Born in Doyleston Pennsylvania, in 1933, Virginia V. James Hlavsa received her Ph.D. in English and American literature from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and taught for many years at Queens College. She has written extensively on Faulkner; her book Faulkner and the Thoroughly Modern Novel was issued in 1991 by the University Press of Virginia, and she was Guest Editor of Women's Studies for a special issue on "Faulkner and Women." In addition to writing poetry, which has appeared in journals such as Descant, Commonweal, and The Dalhousie Review, she tutors writing to learning-disabled young adults. Married for over forty years, she and her husband, Richard, have one son, David, a graduate of Princeton and the University of Washington.