Hey there, I’m Dr. Bill Hillmann, an Author, English Professor, Journalist, Bull-Runner, Speaker, Storyteller, and Mentor.

At the age of 20, I stepped into a Hemingway class at the College of DuPage community college, which inspired me to read Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. It was the first novel I ever read, and I read it in one sitting during an all-nighter at my college library. I was so deeply moved by the exhilarating story that I decided right then that I would devote my life to literature, go to Spain, and run with the bulls. Since then, I’ve clawed my way into the literary world and become an avid bull runner in Spain.

Over the following two decades, I earned my BA in English at Elmhurst University, my MFA in Writing from Columbia College Chicago, and my Ph.D. in English from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where I taught for four and a half years. I am currently a full-time English & Communication Professor at East-West University in Chicago. I also mentor students and have helped them gain admission to prestigious programs, such as Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism with a scholarship.

I am the award-winning author of four internationally acclaimed books. I have spoken at a variety of colleges and high schools about my unusual path to academia and the writing world. My audio essays have appeared on NPR, and my articles and essays have graced the pages of VICE, ABC, Daily Mail, Chicago Tribune, CNN, Toronto Star, Outside Magazine, Diario de Noticias de Navarra, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Playboy, and others.

As an award-winning, internationally acclaimed storyteller, my work has been featured on NPR's Snap Judgment and The Story, and I have performed on stages nationally and internationally. I am the creator, host, and producer of various acclaimed storytelling series that have been performed at festivals around the world, including the Edinburgh Festival and the Chicago Tribune Printers Row Lit Fest.

So, in short: walking into that ju-co Hemingway class paid off big-time.