patricia l. hamilton

Patricia L. Hamilton

Southern California native Patricia L. Hamilton started writing fiction at age ten, and by seventh grade she was dabbling in playwriting and poetry. She faults her formal education—a B.A. in English from Biola University, an M.A. in English from California State University, Fullerton, and a Ph. D. in English from the University of Georgia—for “interrupting” her creative work. However, during the Cal State Fullerton years her interest in poetry was further fostered by a stint as an Assistant Editor, then Associate Editor, for South Coast Poetry Journal.

Patty buckled down and got serious about writing poetry in 2001 when she took a position as an English Professor at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, but even so, she had to juggle her creative work with her role as a scholar of eighteenth-century British novels by women. (Yes, there were women novelists before Jane Austen!) Eventually, she served two years as President of the Southeastern American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, all the while continuing to publish poetry. Her debut collection, The Distance to Nightfall, came out in 2014, and her second, Even Now, followed in 2025.

In 2024, Patty retired after a forty-year career in higher education. When she’s not focused on writing, she enjoys travel, photography, jazz, mysteries, and a good cappuccino. She resides in Jackson, Tennessee, with her husband.