Gill, Myrna Lakshmi

Myrna Lakshmi Gill was born in Manila, Philippines, on May 24, 1943. Her father was Punjabi Sikh, and her mother was Spanish Filipina.

After graduating from high school, she relocated to the United States and earned an undergraduate degree from Western Washington University in Bellingham. In 1964, she completed graduate studies at the University of British Columbia and began but did not complete a PhD at the University of New Brunswick. Gill later received a Bachelor of Education from Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, where she also held teaching appointments and has taught English in Canada, Hong Kong, and England.

Between 1976 and 1988, she lived in Sackville, New Brunswick, where she met and wed her husband. The couple had three children together. Unhappy with the community’s size and struggling to live as a writer in a small town, she separated from her husband in 1988 and moved to British Columbia with her three children.

Most of her work is autobiographical, often reflecting on her relationships with her parents as well as her experiences as an immigrant. Her writings span various books and have been published internationally in anthologies, literary magazines, workshops, conferences, and newspaper articles. She was one of the two women poets who founded the League of Canadian Poets in 1966.

She currently resides on Burnaby Mountain in British Columbia.

Created by Alston So, March 2026.