About Gail
I grew up listening to my family tell stories around the dining room table, and I have loved stories ever since. Today, I am a writer, storyteller, and educator who was ordained as a maggidah (Jewish storyteller) by Rabbi David Zaslow and Maggidah Debra Gordon Zaslow in 2021. I tell re-envisioned folktales to live audiences and write contemporary short stories and novel-length works about creative people.
As a founding member of the Jewish Women’s Storytelling Collective, I work with other maggidah to tell stories from the female perspective. On September 9, 2025, Monkfish Press published our anthology, The Rooster Princess and Other Tales. My writing has also appeared in Jewish Fiction.net, the New Mitzvah Stories for the Whole Family anthology, Wanderlust Journal, and The Fruit of Yitzhak’s Tree anthology.
I’m devoted to helping other writers and artists. Since 2015, I have served on the Board of Directors of Willamette Writers, and I led the organization as its president for five years.
I believe that everyday can be a creative adventure. Even the smallest things can inspire art, and that’s what I write about in my newsletter, Gail’s Art Encounters. Subscribe to read Gail’s Art Encounters here.
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 or just hanging out with our dog, Leeta.
The Rooster Princess And Other Tales
Women take center stage in the Rooster Princess and Other Tales: Jewish Stories Re-populated with Spunky Heroines, Wise Women, Brave Crones, and Powerful Prophetesses. This groundbreaking anthology by my group, the Jewish Women’s Storytelling Collective, puts a modern, feminist spin on Jewish folklore by substituting leading male characters with females ones in re-imagined traditional tales, original stories, and personal stories. Publishers Weekly says, “Creative, witty, and sly, these stories do valuable work in energizing an ancient storytelling tradition.”
Bio
Gail Pasternack is a writer, storyteller, and ordained maggidah (Jewish storyteller and teacher). She tells re-envisioned folktales and writes contemporary stories. Gail was one of the editors and contributors of the anthology The Rooster Princess and Other Tales by her group the Jewish Women’s Storytelling Collective. Her writing has also appeared in Wanderlust Journal, Jewish Fiction.net, the New Mitzvah Stories for the Whole Family anthology, and the anthology The Fruit of Yitzhak’s Tree. Since 2015, Gail has served on the Board of Directors of Willamette Writers, and she led the organization as its president for five years. Gail holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a masters from Columbia University. A native New Yorker, she now lives with her husband and her dog, Leeta, in Portland, Oregon where she enjoys drinking cocktails, listening to live jazz, and dancing Argentine tango
