Bill Glose

Bill Glose

Glose in 2013 (photo by Linda Walsh)

Bill Glose (born Riverside, California) is an American journalist, poet, and fiction writer. He is best known for winning the 2001 F. Scott Fitzgerald Short Story Award and for writing Half a Man, a poetry collection about his Gulf War experience.

Personal life

Born into a US Air Force family, Bill Glose spent much of his childhood on military bases in foreign countries—Japan, then Okinawa, then England. His father, John Glose, was a fighter-bomber pilot who flew an F4 Phantom during the Vietnam War. In 1979, John was stationed at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton Roads and ever since Bill has called Virginia his home.[1] Glose graduated from Virginia Tech in 1989 with a BS in Civil Engineering.

After graduation, Glose was commissioned as an Army officer and paratrooper assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. He qualified as an expert marksman throughout his military career and earned Airborne, Ranger, Jumpmaster and Combat Infantryman badges. He commanded a rifle platoon in combat during the Gulf War and later commanded a Delta (anti-tank) platoon.

After he got out of the Army in 1995, Glose spent three years working in factories in Chicago and Holyoke, Massachusetts. In 1998, he walked away from his production career to become a full-time writer.

Bill Glose kissing a fawn on a stop during his Walk Across Virginia

In 2009, Glose began a walk across Virginia that would eventually zigzag through every region in the state, cross each of the six state borders (including Washington DC), and eventually cover over 1,500 miles.[2] The start point was the First Landing Monument in Virginia Beach and the endpoint was the Cumberland Gap in Tennessee. His stated goal was to “explore and rediscover the land I’ve called home for the past 30+ years.” Among his many adventures during this walk he pet a full-grown buffalo, kissed a fawn on the mouth, rode on the country’s last pole-driven ferry, jumped off a cliff into a water-filled quarry, and participated in a world-record-setting skinny dip at a nudist colony.

Writing career

As a freelancer, Bill Glose has written hundreds of articles for ‘’TechSideLine’’, ‘’Coastal Virginia Magazine’’, and numerous other publications. During the 1999 college football season he wrote for ‘’The Pigskin Post’’ as their Big East correspondent. That same year, he began reviewing books for The Virginian-Pilot, which led to his position as the Books Editor at ‘’Virginia Living’’ (March 2003-present).

Bill Glose speaking at the 2001 F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference

Glose has also written many short stories and poems. In describing his stance on writing in many genres, he said, “Articles are the meat and potatoes in my writing life; fiction and poetry, the dessert.” [3] His fiction has been published in four countries (United States, Canada, England, Ireland) and has won numerous awards.

In 2000, he launched the literary journal ‘’Virginia Adversaria’’, serving as its publisher and editor-in-chief. One of his highlights during the journal’s three-year existence was publishing a short story, “The Cherry Man,” by Khaled Hosseini before Hosseini became internationally famous.

In 2005, Glose became a feature writer for ‘’Super Lawyers’’ magazine, interviewing and writing profiles about top national lawyers in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, and Washington D.C.[4]

Since 2015, Glose has served as the Vice President for the Eastern Region of the Poetry Society of Virginia. He has also worked as a technical writer for various companies and as a writing coach with Professional English, where he coached NASA scientists, business managers and students.

Awards

Books

Reviews

Richard B. Myers (General, USAF, Ret. 15th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff): “Bill Glose’s poetry brings the last 12 years of war in the Middle East and Central Asia into sharp focus. He elicits all the many emotions that a soldier experiences and allows us a rare glimpse into how the people fighting and those caught up in conflict see war. Everyone will learn from this work.”[7]

Lyn C. A. Gardner: “This accomplished collection by a Hampton Roads poet touches both the horrors and wonders of human life, providing philosophical reflections about life and relationships and taking the time to understand and empathize with both strangers and family. Starting from his own encounters but reaching far beyond them, Bill Glose succeeds admirably at the difficult task of making the poet’s specific, personal experience universal.”[8]

References

  1. ↑ Bill Glose Bio
  2. ↑ A Walk Across Virginia
  3. ↑ Author Spotlight: Bill Glose
  4. ↑ Super Lawyers Articles Written by Bill Glose
  5. ↑ Daily Press names three winners in its poetry contest
  6. ↑ Virginia Press Association
  7. ↑ FutureCycle Press publishes veteran's book of war poems (press release).
  8. ↑ Review of The Human Touch Archived September 5, 2015, at the Wayback Machine., Virginia Libraries Journal, Vol. 56, No. 3, Page 32.
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