About

Gillian is the author of Sonic Booms: Making Music in an Oil Town and Director of Writing and Publishing at the University of King’s College She holds a PhD in Ethnomusicology from York University and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of King’s College. She teaches pop music and culture courses at Toronto Metropolitan University and was a faculty mentor in the Creative Nonfiction MFA program at King’s. She hosts King’s MFA podcast, Further Reading. In 2021, Gillian co-founded the writing collective Penizen, whose anthology Bad Artist is forthcoming.

She is a writer and editor and has worked in the music and broadcast industries. A frequent contributor to The Walrus, The National Post, and Hazlitt, Gillian has also written for Chatelaine, Maisonneuve, The Puritan, The Conversation, Atlantic Books Today, VUE Weekly, BC Musician, Penguin Eggs, and No Depression. Her work on No Depression, where she was the Toronto correspondent for five years, features interviews with some of Canada’s best-known musicians. Gillian is also the former editor of Canadian Folk Music and former editorial assistant for MUSICultures, and has served on multiple music industry and academic society boards.

Gillian’s work has been featured on the CBC Radio program Ideas and in documentaries on roots and country music, including the PBS American Masters feature Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl. She is the former host of radio programs in Edmonton and Toronto. Gillian is a Canada Council Award and Chalmers Development Grant recipient.

Her music industry work includes venue programming, music criticism and festival work. She is the co-founder of the popular Wide Cut Weekend roots music festival in Calgary.