Martha Jane Thompson was born on December 21, 1947 in Springfield Illinois to World War II veteran, Carl E. Thompson and A. Geraldine (Drum) Thompson. [1] Miller graduated from Feitshans High School, in 1965.
She married Phillip Dale Miller in 1971 and had two sons, Phillip and Andrew. In 1989, Miller got sober, divorced her husband, and came out as a lesbian. [2]
Education and Career
Miller earned her BA from Sangamon State University and her MA from University of Illinois, Springfield. [2]
Until she retired in 2015, Miller was an English instructor at Benedictine University at Springfield, IL, Lincoln Land Community College, and Richland Community College, Decatur, IL. [2]
In 1984, Miller joined AA, came out, and began writing, focussing on gay and lesbian themes. She wrote short stories including lesbian erotica for On Our Backs and the short story anthologies, Herotica published by Susie Bright and Joani Blank. [1]
Miller has written extensive portrayals of actual and fictional gay and lesbian life. She's gained wide recognition in the LGBTQ community and writing circles. Her book Retirement Plan: a Crime Story was a finalist in the 2011 Lambda Literary Awards, [4] her short story,"At the Last Minute" won the Raymond Carver Short Fiction Award, [5] her book Widow was a finalist in the Golden Crown Literary Awards, [6] and her story "Skin to Skin" was won a five thousand dollar award from the Illinois Arts Council and was a finalist for the ASTEREA Lesbian Writers Awards. [7] The play, "Billy's Voice," a one act play about a woman who has lost her son to AIDS had four encore performances, was staged at the Little Castro Theater in San Francisco, and was published in the arts journal, "Modern Words." [1] [8]
During the AIDS epidemic, Miller developed a five-week workshop in which a group of men with AIDS and HIV wrote stories about themselves. She received a Lila Wallace Grant for this project in 1995 and held the workshop at her local SARA (Springfield AIDS Resource Association) Center. [8]
Miller wrote Tales from the Levee in 2005, a "mythology" rather than a history of a vanished gay community of Springfield, Illinois that relied on interviews with lesbians, gay men and drag queens that frequented the Levee area. [9] [10]
Miller has written nine books, published over twenty-four short stories, and wrote the column "Martha [lesbian] Living" for Prairie Flame for many years. [11] She is a member of the Author's Guild, Sisters in Crime, CORAL (Coalition of Rainbow Alliances), and the Society of Midland Authors.
