About Gail
I’m passionate about living the creative life and dedicated to writing and storytelling, but I’m also devoted to helping other writers and creative people. That is why I love being the president of Willamette Writers, the largest writing organization in the Pacific Northwest, with more than 1300 members.
My short story “Asmodai in Portland,” was published in the anthology New Mitzvah Stories for the Whole Family by Reclaiming Judaism Press, and my short story “Here I Am” was published in the 2021 fall edition of JewishFiction.net. In March of 2021, my travel essay about cocktail bars in London and Paris was published in Wanderlust Journal. I was ordained as a Maggidah, a Jewish storyteller, in August of 2021.
After twenty years as an educator, I’m at work on a novel, a redemptive story about the relationship between a pansexual female artist and a Hollywood film star.
My husband and I live in Portland, where our date nights are filled with trying new restaurants and cocktail bars or listening to live jazz.
I chronicle my creative and foodie adventures in my monthly newsletter, Gail’s Art Encounters. Subscribe to read Art Encounters here.
Work in Progress
Work in Progress
In New York’s world of art, movies, celebrities, and drag queens, Blake, a Hollywood icon, stands out, as does Ada, a lesser-known artist. But when you’re famous, or with someone who is, and when the public has commodified not just art but also the artist, how can you trust that others see the real you, and not the flat media projection? Blake and Ada each want nothing more than to have their talent acknowledged, but they need to be seen, understood, and valued for who they are as three-dimensional people. And maybe even be loved, if they can get past feeling that they don’t deserve it.
This is the essence of Flattened, Gail’s novel-in-progress, which her agent, Elisa Saphier of MacGregor & Luedeke Literary, has sent out on submission.
Gail is also collaborating with other Maggidah to organize storytelling events in Portland later this year and to compile a collection of women’s stories. Sign up for her newsletter to get further announcements on these projects.
Bio
Gail Pasternack is an ordained Maggidah (Jewish storyteller) who is passionate about living a creative life and telling stories at her local pub. Her story, Asmodai in Portland, was published by Reclaiming Judaism Press in the New Mitzvah Stories for the Whole Family anthology and her story, “Here I Am” was published by Jewish Fiction.net in September, 2021. In March of 2021, her travel essay about cocktail bars in London and Paris was published in Wanderlust Journal. Gail has served on the Willamette Writers Board of Directors since 2015 and as its president since 2019. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a masters from Columbia University. Gail and her husband reside in Portland where they are active members of the tango and jazz communities.
