Lynne Tillman is a writer, filmmaker, and cultural critic. Tillman grew up in Woodmere, Long Island and came to New York City to study painting, literature and history at Hunter College. After graduating she lived in Europe for 6 years, moving between London and Amsterdam and taking part in the avant-garde film scene as a filmmaker and organizer. While in Europe she compiled a collection of writings by Americans living abroad. This book, titled Americans Abroad, was never published despite having two publishers and numerous noteworthy contributors including Paul Bowles and William Burroughs. While abroad Tillman also wrote for the Dutch sex magazine Suck, and began writing her short novel, Weird Fucks.

Tillman returned to New York in 1976 and continued making films. In 1984 Tillman and Sheila McLaughlin released Committed, their film about Frances Farmer's life, family relationships and institutionalization. The film received partial funding from the Jerome Foundation and Channel Four (London) and screened at numerous film festivals, including its premier at the Berlin Film Festival. She also wrote a screenplay adaptation of Jane Bowles's novel, Two Serious Ladies. Although she obtained funding to make the film and permission from Paul Bowles, a conflict with a European publisher over the copyright prevented the project's completion.

In between filmmaking and working Lynne Tillman co-edited "Paranoids Anonymous Newsletter" (P.A.N.) an experimental literary newspaper that ran for three editions, and began writing her first published book, Haunted Houses (1987). The novel follows three young women coming of age in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. In addition to her writing and filmmaking between 1981 and 1987, Lynne Tillman completed the required coursework for a doctorate in sociology at CUNY Graduate School. This coursework enabled Tillman to explore topics and texts that she felt were underrepresented in her education. Lynne Tillman formed rich relationships not just with her contemporaries but also with artists and writers from preceding creative paradigms including the surrealists Meret Oppenheim, Paul Bowles, and Charles Henri Ford. These relationships often began as creative opportunities for Tillman. In the case of Meret Oppenheim, Tillman conducted, edited and published an interview with the artist about women and surrealism. With Paul Bowles she requested some unpublished material for the Americans Abroad anthology. This request and her interest in his and his wife Jane's work lead to a long correspondence and eventual meeting in Tangiers. In each case the relationships provided inspiration and guidance.

Tillman also drew from her experiences and professional and personal networks to mentor emerging artists. She has been a creative writing instructor at Bard, Princeton, and SUNY Albany.

Bibliography

Madame Realism. Illustrated by Kiki Smith. New York: The Print Center, 1984.

Haunted Houses. New York: Poseidon Press, 1987.

Absence Makes the Heart. London: Serpent's Tail, 1990

Motion Sickness. New York: Poseidon Press, 1991

Cast In Doubt. New York: Poseidon Press. 1992.

The Madame Realism Complex. New York: Semiotexte, 1992.

Living with Contradictions. Drawings by Jane Dickson. Buffalo, NY: Hallwalls, 1993.

Haunted Houses. New York: High Risk Books, 1995.

The Velvet Years: Warhol's Factory 1965-1967. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1995.

The Broad Picture: Essays 1987-1996. New York: Serpent's Tail, 1997.

No Lease on Life: A Novel. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1997.

Bookstore: The Life and Times of Jeannette Watson and Books and Co. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1999.

This is Not It: Stories. New York: Distributed Art Publishers, 2002.

American Genius: A Comedy. New York: Soft Skull Press, 2006