faq
FAQ, Asked Questions
Originally from Harlingen, Texas, Gretchen McCullough’s stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in The Barcelona Review, World Literature Today, Story South, Guernica, The Millions, The Common, and the LA Review of Books. She was awarded a BA from Brown University in 1984 and earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Alabama in 1995. Her books include Three Stories from Cairo (2011), Shahrazad’s Tooth (2013), Confessions of a Knight Errant (2022), Shahrazad’s Gift (2024) and The Wondrous Springs of Balmorhea: A Literary Chronicle of New Deal Days (2026). She also co-translated Mohamed Metwalli’s poetry collection, A Song by the Aegean Sea (2022). Currently, she is on the faculty at the American University in Cairo. She lives with her husband, the Egyptian poet, Mohamed Metwalli in Cairo
Three Stories from Cairo, Shahrazad’s Tooth, A Confession of a Knight Errant, Shahrazad’s Gift, The Wondrous Springs of Balmorhea. One translation of poetry: A Song on the Aegean Sea, Mohamed Metwalli
The novel is set during the Great Depression at the Balmorhea CCC camp in remote West Texas, whose enrollees are building the biggest swimming pool in the world. Forty years later, we learn the secrets of the camp from Sam McBride, who is in the twilight of his life. The camp nurse, Darlene has more dangerous secrets, as the accomplice of her husband Dr. John Brinkley, the medical quack who promised greater virility to men with goat transplant operations.
Amazon. TCU Press
A few of my grandfather’s diaries and oral interviews. Then, my research in the archives at Sul Ross University led me to the story of the Civilian Conservation Camps.
I grew up in Harlingen, Texas, near the Mexican border. I now live in Cairo, Egypt.
At least four years. Maybe five.
I got interested in painters who were funded by the New Deal programs.
gretchen@aucegypt.edu or they can contact TCU press for review copies: https://tcupress.tcu.edu/review-copies/
My website
Gretchen McCullough: Facebook. Author’s Page. https://www.facebook.com/gretchen.m.mccullough
Persist. Learning to write is a long journey. Read everything. Be eager for feedback. Get life experience.
