Mary Gaitskill was born in Lexington KY and grew up in the Detroit area of Michigan. She left home at the age of 16 eventually traveling to Canada where she lived illegally with a fake ID. At 19 she realized that if she wanted to become a writer she needed more education and so returned to America to attend community college. From there she went to the University of Michigan where she took a B.A. and then moved to New York City in 1981. She published her first book, a story collection titled Bad Behavior in 1988; she has since published two more collections of stories (Because They Wanted To and Don’t Cry) and three novels (Two Girls, Fat and Thin, Veronica and The Mare) as well as a collection of essays titled Somebody With A Little Hammer and a novella titled This is Pleasure. Her most recent book is a compilation of previous work with visual art titled The Devil’s Treasure: A Book of Stories and Dreams. She has taught writing and literature at the graduate and undergraduate level.
Mary Gaitskill
