Photo credit: Tuan Ching
About Paul Russell
Paul Elliott Russell is the author of seven novels. Two were awarded theFerro-Grumley Award for Fiction, one was chosen as one of the 100 Best Gay and Lesbian Novels by the Triangle Publishing Group, and three were finalists for the Lambda Literary Award. His novels might best be described as dreamy reconstructions of half-recalled nightmares.
He grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, in a neighborhood called Scenic Hills. After graduating from Raleigh-Egypt High School in 1974, he attended Oberlin College in Ohio, and also spent time in Germany and London. He then went on to study at Cornell University, earning an MFA in Creative Writing in 1982 and a PhD in English in 1983. He has taught at Vassar College, The College of William & Mary, and the University of Exeter.
His nonfiction book, The Gay 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Gay Men and Lesbians, Past and Present (1995), has been translated into ten languages. He’s published poetry, essays and short fiction in such journals and anthologies as Epoch, Carolina Quarterly, The James White Review, Sou’wester, The Black Warrior Review, American Short Fiction, Lumina, The Barcelona Review, Men on Men 4, The Mammoth Book of New Gay Erotica, Sequoia, The William and Mary Review, Queer 13, Gastronomica and Best Food Writing 2001.
An extended print interview with him can be found in Hear Us Out: Conversations with Gay Novelists (Columbia University Press, 2004).
Paul shares an old farmhouse with
several supernatural cats
and in his spare time tends
an unruly flower garden
that provides salad
for his frequent guests.