Column: Book Fare
Steven Gillis got lucky. Twice.
In the 1980s he was practicing labor law with a big firm in Washington, D.C., and writing in his spare time. The stock market was booming.
Steven Gillis, in his home office on Ann Arbor's east side. Gillis is founder of Dzanc Books as well as the nonprofit 826 Michigan, which are both based in Ann Arbor. His latest novel, "The Consequence of Skating," came out last week. (Photo by Mary Morgan)
“I started making some money and I got people to invest it for me – I’m smart enough to know I didn’t know how to invest it,” Gillis says.
“And I got lucky.”
As his writing started to take off, Gillis decided to practice law part time and devote more time to his fiction. A Detroit native and University of Michigan alum, he decided to move back to Michigan and settled in Ann Arbor. His first novel, “Walter Falls,” published by Brook Street Press in 2003, was well-received by critics and a finalist for a pair of literary awards. (Brook Street would publish his second novel, “The Weight of Nothing,” in 2005.) And he founded 826 Michigan, a nonprofit aimed at encouraging young people to develop their creative writing talents.
And then, in early 2005, he met up with Dan Wickett, who, like Gillis, was a regular at Shaman Drum Bookshop and at other local readings. And Gillis got lucky again. [Full Story]