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 Philip Gulley Bio

Philip Gulley is a Quaker pastor and beloved writer and speaker from Danville, Indiana.  He has become the voice of small-town American life.  Gulley's work includes the acclaimed Harmony series of novels chronicling life in the eccentric Quaker community of Harmony, Indiana and the best selling Porch Talk series of inspirational and humorous stories.  In addition, Gulley and co-author James Mulholland describe their progressive worldview in their books, If Grace Is True and If God Is Love.

Gulley was raised in Danville, Indiana where he lives today with his wife, Joan, and their sons, Spencer and Sam, in a rambling house with Gulley’s eclectic chair collection (sixty-four at last count) and a welcoming porch. Many of his characters and recollections are taken from his boyhood in this small Midwestern town. 

Gulley attended Marian College in Indianapolis where he studied theology and sociology.  He then  enrolled at Christian Theological Seminary.  While in seminary, he became the pastor of Irvington Friends Meeting in Indianapolis and began writing essays for the church's newsletter.  Paul Harvey, Jr. received those newsletters and shared them with a publisher.  A few months later, the publisher invited Gulley to publish his essays, which became his first book, Front Porch Tales.  He has been writing ever since.

Gulley is currently the the pastor at Fairfield Friends Meeting near Indianapolis.  Additionally, he hosts the television program "Porch Talk with Phil Gulley”on the Indiana PBS affiliate WFYI and their flagship show Across Indiana, for which he recently received an Emmy Award.  He also writes the popular monthly Home Again column for Indianapolis Monthly Magazine.

He is currently at work on a memoir, recounting his coming-of-age years in Danville. I Love You, Miss Huddleston: And Other Inappropriate Longings of My Indiana Childhood will be in stores April 14, 2009.  He is also writing a new book called If the Church Were Christian, scheduled for release by HarperCollins in January, 2010.