Gillian Polack

Gillian Polack
Gillian Pollack in 2012
Born	April 1961 Melbourne, Australia
Occupation	Writer Editor
Nationality	Australian
Genre	Speculative fiction
Website
www.gillianpolack.com

Gillian Polack (born April 1961) is an Australian writer and editor working mainly in the field of speculative fiction. She has published four novels, numerous short stories and nonfiction articles, and is the creator of the New Ceres universe.^[1]

Life

Gillian Polack was born in Melbourne. She went to local state schools. She attended Melbourne University and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) in History, with the Margaret Kiddle and Felix Raab Prizes. She did her Master of Arts at the Centre for Medieval Studies (University of Toronto) and submitted her thesis for Doctor of Philosophy in History at the University of Sydney. She later took out teaching qualifications at the University of New England and a Doctor of Philosophy in Creative Writing at the University of Western Australia. She currently lives in Canberra, ACT.

Polack was the Australasian delegate for the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention and presented the Hugo award for Best Fanzine in 2014.^[2] In 2009, she was also the co-convener for Flycon,^[3] the first online international Science Fiction Convention.^[4] Polack was the convenor and judge of the Conflux short story competition in 2010 and spent seven years, from 2006 to 2013, as Conflux's acting project leader in charge of planning and organising its annual historical banquets, employing her knowledge as a food historian and teacher of food history at the Australian National University.^[5][6]

Polack has been the Guest for Honour for several science fiction conventions including Sydney Freecon in 2006, the Conflux Science Fiction Convention in 2008^[7] and the Liburnicon science fiction convention in Opatija, Croatia in 2014.^[8]

Writing

Novels

• The Art of Effective Dreaming (Satalyte, 2015)
• Langue[dot]doc 1305 (Satalyte, 2014)
• Ms Cellophane (Momentum, 2012)
  • Published originally as Life Through Cellophane (Eneit Press, 2009)
• Illuminations (Tritium Publishing, USA, 2003)

The many delays in publishing her novel The Art of Effective Dreaming, mostly as a result of the devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ike, have prompted questions as to whether the book is cursed.^[9]

Short Stories

• "Someone's Daughter", (2013), Next, CSFG Publishing
  • Finnish translation, Alienisti, (2015)
• "Passports", (2009), In Bad Dreams 2, Eneit Press
• "Horrible Historians", (2006), Subterranean Magazine, Fall, USA
  • Recommended Dozois Year's Best SF
• "Impractical Magic", (2005), Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #17,
  • Recommended reading, Datlow/Link/Grant Year's Best 2005^[10]
  • Swedish translation, Enhörningen, (2015)
• "Happy Faces for Happy Families", (2004), Encounters, CSFG Publishing
  • Recommended, Datlow's Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (2004)^[11]
• "Words", (1985), short story in EMU Literary Magazine for Young Australians Spring/Summer
• "The Performance", (1982), The Journal (Short Story Supplement)
  • Winner, Victorian Government Ministry for the Arts Award^[12]

Non-Fiction

Polack's nonfiction work covers a broad spectrum. Her scholarly work focuses both on the Middle Ages and on modern writers, with, for instance, a feature article on the Middle Ages in Robin Reid's Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy.^[13] She reviews speculative fiction^[14] and has written guests posts on subjects ranging from writing^[15] to history.^[16]

• The Middle Ages Unlocked, co-authored with K. Kania, (Amberley Press, 2015, forthcoming)
• Five Historical Feasts, (Conflux/Eneit Press, 2011)
• A Medieval French Rosh Hashanah, (Kosher Consumers' Association, 2003)
• Once and Future: Medieval and Modern Arthurian Literature, (The Arthurian Association of Australia, Occasional Papers Volume 1, 2000)
  • Polack acted as both editor and contributor

New Ceres

Polack created the New Ceres universe for a short story.^[1] Alisa Krasnostein, now of Twelfth Planet Press, used this universe as the basis for the New Ceres webzine^[17] and for stories set in the New Ceres universe.^[18]

Editing

Polack is the co-editor of Masques, published by Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild,^[19] and of the forthcoming Baggage anthology to be published by Eneit Press.^[20] The table of contents includes K. J. Bishop, Jack Dann, Kaaron Warren and Jennifer Fallon.

Teaching & Education

Polack teaches mainly at the Centre for Continuing Education, Australian National University^[21] and at the Canberra Writers' Centre. Her guest teaching has included History for fiction writers at the NSW Writers' Centre^[22] and floortalks at museums such as the Canberra Museum and Art Gallery.^[23] She has also been a panellist at the Canberra Literary Festival.

Organisations

Gillian Polack has worked on many committees and been asked to give talks for many organisations, both in paid and voluntary capacities. She has been a member of the Australian NGO Working Group for the UN World Conference Against Racism, a past member of the Ministerial Advisory Council on Women, ACT, and was the Vice-President and National Director of the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia (1994–1997).^[24]

References

External links

• Official website
• Gillian Polack's blog
• Gillian Polack at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database