Writer, Editor, Midwesterner

Hi! I’m Lillian. I’m from Minnesota, and I live in Chicago with my girlfriend (Tris Dávila) and our cats (Minneapolis and Milagro).

I write fiction and criticism. My fiction is interested in Middle American life and the diverse, multi-generational, real-life communities that create culture beyond the coasts. My criticism focuses on the American Midwest, its history, and how regionality can help us better understand the US-America in which we live. If you’re looking for an introduction to my writing, try this essay in the Cleveland Review of Books, this review in The Masters Review, and this story in The Ana (page 104).

I believe in community literary spaces. I serve as the Editor-in-Chief of The Bullpen and co-run the Dykes of the Roundtable workshop at the Lesbian Herstory Archives. I also run the Midwest Reading Group at the pub in Chicago. Our next book will be Nature’s Metropolis, starting August 1, 2026. To get involved, send me an email at midwestreadinggroup@gmail.com.

To support all of this (mostly unpaid) work, I work as a freelance editor for self-published authors. I’ve been doing this work for the last four years and have worked with over 300 writers from all over the world. I’ve worked with novice writers, writers who support themselves completely off their books, and everything in between. If you or someone you know is in the self-publishing world, send them my way; I do offer discounts for referrals and payment plans to make costs more manageable. I work most frequently on queer romance, erotica, women’s memoir, and YA fantasy.

I’ve also worked for The American Scholar (nine months), the NYU Art History and Urban Design Library (one year), W.W. Norton (three months), City Lights Bookstore (two months), AURORE (four months, and I also wrote for them), the Writing Center at NYU Gallatin (one year), and various coffee shops (totalling 2.5 years). As a teenager, I wrote for various online-only magazines that are now defunct. I graduated summa cum laude from the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study and received the coveted Léo Bronstein Award for interdisciplinary excellence in the arts.

In more personal news, I love the Minnesota Lynx and Timberwolves. I read constantly and write very long Storygraph reviews. I drink a lot of coconut water, and the only movie I truly enjoy watching is Moonstruck. Despite how unglamorous it can feel at times, I do believe that writing every morning is the best literary trade secret.

Don’t be shy! Send me a message.

Lillian

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