Who I am

Richard Z. Gallant is a writer and medievalist whose work bridges scholarship and myth. His award-winning book Germanic Heroes, Courage, and Fate: Northern Narratives in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Legendarium explores Tolkien’s works through northern heroic traditions. He is currently developing the Helios Mythos cycle of speculative fiction, beginning with the novel The Anankē Threshold and its sequel Zamareth’s Daughter. His work combines deep philosophical and philological research with mythic storytelling, weaving tales of memory, love, and cosmic destiny.

Richard first served in the US Army as an Airborne Infantryman and later as a Special Forces Weapons Sergeant. Subsequently, after college, he served as a US Naval Officer.

He earned his BA from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor with a double major in Russian and Eastern European Studies and (Residential College) Creative Writing.

After the Navy, Richard attended the University of Virginia for a MA in Germanic Languages and Literatures, with a heavy focus on Literary and Critical Theory.

After falling in love with Germany on a teaching exchange at the University of Dortmund, he decided to settle in Germany. He went on to earn his Doctor of Philosophy in Anglistische Mediävistik/English Medieval Studies (magna cum laude) from the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, where he sometimes adjuncts part-time. Since 2010 Richard has made Weimar his home where he lives with his daughter Aurelia and their brown lab, Pollux.