Nicole Galland
Encyclopedia
Background
Galland was born in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, but grew up in West Tisbury
West Tisbury
West Tisbury is the name of two places:*West Tisbury, Wiltshire, England*West Tisbury, Massachusetts, USA...
, a farming community on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, where her maternal family has roots going back to the 18th century. Her mother works as a nurse and her stepfather, a Viet Nam vet, was a Physician’s Assistant at Martha’s Vineyard only hospital. On her father’s side she is first-generation American, her heritage being a combination of German Jew and Iraqui-Kurdish Jew.
She graduated from Martha's Vineyard Regional High School
Martha's Vineyard Regional High School
Martha's Vineyard Regional High School or MVRHS is a high school in Oak Bluffs on the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, United States.-History:...
as valedictorian of her class, before going on to study theatre and earn an honors degree in Comparative Religion
Comparative religion
Comparative religion is a field of religious studies that analyzes the similarities and differences of themes, myths, rituals and concepts among the world's religions...
at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, with a focus in Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. She received a full fellowship to pursue a Ph.D. in Drama at the University of California at Berkeley. However, she withdrew from the program while battling severe depression and post-traumatic stress following a violent and bizarre assault at gunpoint, an encounter she would eventually use as fodder in her writing.
Galland spent her 20s and 30s working in theatre, teaching, editing and juggling various odd jobs. This included co-founding a teen theater company in California that debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. Galland once described her eclectic life as existing at the whim of serendipity.
Her screenplay, The Winter Population, won an award in 1998 but has yet to be produced. When her first novel, The Fool’s Tale, was published by William Morrow in 2005, she left her position as Literary Manager/Dramaturge at Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Berkeley Repertory Theatre is a regional theater company located in Berkeley, California. It was founded in 1968, as the East Bay’s first resident professional theatre. Michael Leibert was the founding artistic director, who was then succeeded by Sharon Ott in 1984. The company runs seven...
to write full time. While at Berkeley Rep she had written Revenge of the Rose, her second novel. Her third novel, Crossed: A Tale of the Fourth Crusade, was written over a 2-year period during which she essentially lived out of a backpack.
She is currently on the writing team of the Mongoliad, an experimental fiction project of the Subutai Corporation, of which Jeremy Bornstein is CEO.
Having resided in the California Bay Area, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
for years, Galland returned to Martha’s Vineyard to live full time. She is married to actor Billy Meleady.
In addition to her novels, Galland has written for Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
and several Vineyard-based publications, including the Vineyard Gazette, Martha’s Vineyard Magazine, and Edible Vineyard, of which she is a contributing editor.