Courtney Gillette is a writer, ex-teacher, and lover of milkshakes. Her essays and book reviews have appeared in The Huffington Post, AfterEllen.com, LambdaLiterary.org, Tom Tom Magazine, and Spinner, among others, as well as the Lambda Award winning anthology The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing About Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Other Identities (Knopf 2006). Most recently she contributed to the YA anthology Truth And Dare (Running Press Kids 2011). In 2009 she became a Literary Death Match Champion. Her most favorite thing in the world is Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at Lesley University. She lives in Brooklyn, and rides a sweet blue bicycle. You can contact her at courtney [dot] gillette [at] gmail [dot] com.
[photo by Pieter Van Hattem for Poets & Writers]
I just read your article about staying sober on NYE and I want to say thanks, I needed to read that. It’ll be one month for me tomorrow night and I’m known as a drinker so there will be shots of Tequila everywhere, My job puts me in front of people at bars and Comedy Clubs all the time so sometimes, it gets a little frustrating. Your piece was encouraging.
Hi Doug! Belated thanks for this! I’m really glad the article was helpful. Hope you’re doing well! cheers, c
Nice article on AOL. I’ll have 5 months this week and looking forward to a sober NYE as well! Good luck on the MFA!
Thank you!
I totally identified with your article about being sober on NYE. I got sober at 24. Not drinking in my 20′s was awkward & sometimes difficult. Now that I am 30 I am so happy that I stuck with it. Its so worth it. Thanks & you rock!!!
I am such a fan of your articles on afterellen.com. Especially the way you have lefted up Black Lesbian creativity! I wanted to let you know about the Mobile Homecoming Project (mobilehomecoming.org) an experiential archive project where two black queer women travel the country in an 1988 Winnebago amplifying generations of Black LGBTQ brilliance!
Hope to stay in touch!!!
Hey Alexis! Thanks so much! I’d love to check out this project. Looks rad! cheers, c
Hi, Courtney,
You wrote a great article last year on Afterellen: http://www.afterellen.com/more/literary-agent-asks-ya-authors-to-cut-gay-characters
I’m one of the writers in question, and I just wanted to let you know that one year later, we did manage to sell the book, to Viking. All the gay and lesbian characters are still gay and lesbian.
I posted with more details here: http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/1075926.html
Hi Rachel! Congrats! Thanks so much for sharing this news!