and a substitute teacher. She also worked at a child-care center, answered phones at a rape crisis center, and clerked with the Social Security Administration. In certain periods, she trained during the day and at night sat in her motel room and wrote on yellow legal pads. She wrote about her life experiences, including the abuse by her stepfather, dealing with poverty, and her lust for women. This became the backbone of her future works. Allison's first book of poetry, The Women Who Hate Me, was published with Long Haul Press in 1983. In 1988, her first short story collection, Trash, was published by Firebrand Books. Her first novel Bastard Out of Carolina was published in 1992 to great acclaim, becoming a best-seller. It was later adapted as a film of the same name, directed by Anjelica Huston for TNT. The book and film both generated controversy because of the graphic content, and the TV film was aired on Showtime rather than TNT. The Canadian Maritime Film Classification Board initially banned distribution of the film in Canada, but it was reversed on appeal. In November 1997, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a State Board of Education decision to ban the book in public high schools because of its graphic content. Allison would go on to publish another novel and two collections of poetry and short stories. In 1998, Allison founded The Independent Spirit Award to support writers who help sustain small presses and independent bookstores. In 2006, Allison was the writer in residence at Columbia College in Chicago. During spring 2007, Allison was Emory University Center for Humanistic Inquiry’s Distinguished Visiting Professor. In the summer of 2007, she was Famosa in residence at Macondo in San Antonio, Texas. In 2007, Allison announced that she was working on a new novel entitled She Who, to be published by Riverhead Books. Allison held a three-month residency at Emory University in Atlanta in 2008 as the Bill and Carol Fox Center Distinguished Visiting Professor. In fall 2009, Allison was The McGee Professor and writer in residence at Davidson College, in North Carolina. Personal life Allison now lives in Northern California, calling herself a "happily born-again Californian". She lives with her partner of more than 18 years, Alix Layman, and son, Wolf Michael. Writing Themes in Allison's work include class struggle, child and sexual abuse, women, lesbianism, feminism, and family. French literary scholar