Gail Wilson Kenna

Gail Wilson Kenna earned B.A. USC 1965. Graduate work San Francisco State. Earned secondary teaching credential 1967, married 1968, taught in Los Angeles, San Antonio, and decade in Napa Valley. High school English teacher. Began writing 1970 after U/C Berkeley Bay Area Writing Project. First publication Redbook, 1981. Wrote for magazines & newspapers in 1980s, military audience, received awards. In Germany, completed MFA degree, then taught writing & literature for college & university...See more

Gail Wilson Kenna earned B.A. USC 1965. Graduate work San Francisco State. Earned secondary teaching credential 1967, married 1968, taught in Los Angeles, San Antonio, and decade in Napa Valley. High school English teacher. Began writing 1970 after U/C Berkeley Bay Area Writing Project. First publication Redbook, 1981. Wrote for magazines & newspapers in 1980s, military audience, received awards. In Germany, completed MFA degree, then taught writing & literature for college & university programs in foreign countries & USA. Still teaching at 80. First book published 1982.Three editions, New Reader's Press, until 2003. In 2019, Along the Gold Rush Trail reprinted as Here to There and Back Again (Ingram). Five of Kenna's books currently available. Received U.S. State Department award for work in Venezuelan prisons. Beyond the Wall 2000 reprinted in 2020 (Ingram). A passionate teacher, tireless fighter for justice, lover of family, friends, students, literature & nature, Lives with 1968 husband on creek of Virginia's Chesapeake Bay. Two adult daughters live in Washington, D.C. Tennis competitor since 1953 & tennis instructor since 1960s. At 80 with new knees, plays tennis five times a week. Tennis Talk of a Nobody is her seventh book. See less