Gillian Conoley—the recipient of several Pushcart Prizes and the Jerome J. Shestack Award from The American Poetry Review—is Poet-in-Residence and Associate Professor at Sonoma State University, where she is the founder and editor of Volt magazine. Conoley is the author of four poetry collections, including the highly praised Some Gangster Pain and Tall Stranger.

Conoley's poetry has appeared in the American Poetry Review, the Kenyon Review, Ironwood, Zyzzyva, Ploughshares, the Denver Quarterly, the Missouri Review and other publications.

The American Book Review says of Conoley's poetry: "Even above the powerfully inventive language and clear, compressed style is a poetic vision that seems utterly transforming. These are poems born of Flannery O'Connor's short stories, with their oddball grace, their undeniable redemption. Combined with Gillian Conoley's dark humor are an eye for detail and a sensibility that are mysteriously compelling. Her characters discover the power of the transforming image and in so doing create an inner life that is rich, surprising, transcendent. It is this odd hopefulness, this recourse to the imagination which transforms the landscape of ordinary lives and longing into something rare, mysterious, and dangerous that are Conoley's special talent."

Her honors and awards include four Pushcart Prize publications, the Academy of American Poets Award, a fellowship from the Washington State Arts Commission, residency at the MacDowell Colony and a grant from Northwest Institute for Advanced Study.

Conoley's work has been anthologized in "Best American Poetry," "Poets of the Northwest," "The Carnegie-Mellon Anthology of Poetry," "American Poetry Annual" and "Jazz Poetry Anthology."

Conoley has taught literature and poetry at several universities. She also has worked as a curator, a literary editor and a professional journalist.