Jillian Tillman – Author Bio

Jillian Tillman
Author Bio

Jillian hugs an adoring fan

Hi all, I’m Jill, and I’m a creative writing major and a senior over at the University of Washington. I spend most of my time doing one of three main things: sitting in class, slaving away at Starbucks, or spending quality time with my three golden retrievers. Yes, you read that correctly. I said three. When I’m not busy vacuuming dog hair, I’m generally at my computer composing some sort of essay, story, or other written assignment for one of my fabulous professors in the Department of English.

Despite being crazy about English now, I can’t say I always knew I wanted to be an English major, much less a writer. Instead, I have an incredible high school teacher, Kristen Gabrielson, to thank for that. I joined her International Baccalaureate English class as a freshman, and was lucky enough to continue with her for two more consecutive years. Within that time, Kristen managed to awaken within me an insatiable hunger for writing, and opened my eyes to a natural ability I never knew I had. It took me two more years of college to fully figure it out, but in the end, I knew I simply had to write.

Writing, however, is not the only thing that motivates me. Travel has also been something I thoroughly enjoy, and never seem to do enough of. I was lucky enough to visit Spain with a best friend in the summer of 2003, where we took an “equestrian vacation,” or in other words, went to Mallorca to ride incredible Andalusian horses, finally put to use my seven years of Spanish, and soak up the fabulous Mediterranean sun for 8 unforgettable days. After that, I knew I would have to go back, to Spain, to Europe, and more. I haven’t made it yet, but I’ll get there.

Feel free to email me at jmt4 at u.washington dot edu.