Lucy Gaines returns to her native state after 12 years spent living and working in Tennessee. She earned a B.A. in English Literature and a B.F.A. in Studio Art from Rhodes College, where she began exploring evolving notions of southern identity in fiction. She began her professional career in Nashville as a writer, copywriter, and marketing strategist, and co-founded an all-female creative marketing agency that continues to support small businesses. Now based in Oxford, she narrows her focus back towards the complexities of identity within the ever-changing region of the American South. She also earned her M.A. in Southern Studies in 2023.

Areas of focus: Gender Studies, Globalization and the American South, Southern Literature and Storytelling, Visual Arts