Phyllis Gebauer
Phyllis Gebauer has written novels, short stories, articles, and the scripts for four short films co-produced with her late husband. Her comic novel, The Pagan Blessing was published by Viking in 1979 and re-issued in paperback by Fithian Press in 2006. Thomas Pynchon called it "a delightful, touching, and entertaining journey; Ray Bradbury called it "A blessing indeed; a true delight." She has completed two other novels and was working on a third when her husband unexpectedly died in 1998. Since then she has written a rollicking though heartwarming memoir called Hot Widow that will be published by Fithian Press in 2008.
Phyllis teaches fiction in the Writers' Program at UCLA Extension and in 1992 was named its "Outstanding Teacher in Creative Writing". She was on the staff of the Santa Barbara Writers' Conference for twenty-five years and still lectures on writing every January at the conference sponsored by San Diego State University. Audio tapes and CD's of these lively fifty-minute sessions with questions-and-answers are available in three separate volumes called Learn to Write Better Fiction.
Besides teaching people how to write, Phyllis offers lectures or workshops to professional organizations, social clubs, libraries, and church groups on such topics as: "Writing your Way through Grief and Loss," "Writing your Own Personal Story," "The Secrets of Storytelling," "Putting Pen to Paper," "From Brain to Bookstore" or any other aspect of writing and its effect on a person's life.
She is a member of PEN, Mystery Writers of America, and the Dorothy L. Sayers Society in Great Britain. Born in Chicago, she was graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Northwestern University, received an M.A. in Spanish from the University of Houston, and has done post-graduate work at the University of Washington, UCLA, UCSD, and the Universidad Nacional in Mexico City.