All about Phyllis

Ms. Biffle-Elmore was born in Detroit, Michigan. At the age of four, she was sent to the tiny town of Livingston, Alabama to be raised by her grandmother Lula Horn (1883-1988), who made beautiful quilts out of the clothing of her loved ones. Each strip of fabric tells the story of the wearer’s life and death.

She shared these mostly tragic and sometimes witty tales with little Phyllis as she sewed their clothes into a quilt that threaded broken lives back together. Ms. Biffle now shares these profound stories with the world as Grandmother Lula told them to her.

Recent
accomplishments

Phyllis has been a guest speaker at over seventy venues, including libraries, genealogical conventions, quilting clubs, book clubs, colleges, and secondary schools throughout the United States. She received a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 1984, and an M.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Denver in 2022.

Her newest book; Quilt of Souls: A Memoir was selected as The Library Journal’s Best Books of 2022. Her book was also selected as an Amazon Best Seller in January 2023.

A partial list of her 2023- 2024 speaking events includes:

  • Guest Speaker – Montgomery College

  • Guest speaker at The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH).  Events for February 2023 – ASALH – The Founders of Black History Month

  • Webinar – The Atlanta History Center (Martin Luther King Center).  April 2023 Phyllis Biffle Elmore | Atlanta History Center

  • Five pages of her book Quilt of Souls: A Memoir was selected by the Texas Department of Education to be included in STAAR standardized testing for grades 3 – 8 for the 2025 through 2030 academic year.

  • Completed a three-part series on Sirius Channel 143 Constant Wonder Program that chronicles her stories from the Quilt of Souls

  • Guest Speaker for the Quilters of Color and Queen Quilters, Queens New York, March 2023

  • Guest speaker at the Women’s Symposium at Texas A&M University in honor of Women’s History Month – March 2017 and 2023

  • Book Signing and reading at the renowned best-selling title bookstore; The Dock Bookshop in Dallas, Texas, March 2023

  • Live television interview and performance at the renowned Melba’s Read and Eat, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 2023

  • Speaker at the historical Chautauqua Women’s Club, Chautauqua, New York – July 28, 2023

Previous
accomplishments

Some of Phyllis’s past accomplishments include:

  • Speaker and podcast for the renowned Enoch Pratt Library – Baltimore, MD. Link

  • Her first edition of Quilt of Souls was selected as “required reading” for second-year English students at Palm Beach State College, Florida in 2017.

  • Keynote speaker for the First Annual African American Quilt Convention, Lawrence, Kansas. 2016 and 2018.

  • Received book review from the prestigious Midwest Book Review on May 8th, 2017.

  • PBS interview with Nancy Zieman on April 28, 2016. October 2016 was aired nationwide in media markets nationwide. Quilt of Souls also appeared on Nancy’s Notions Website beginning in early October. Link

  • Keynote Speaker for the South Carolina Genealogical Society annual conference July 15, 2016

  • Appeared on KLTX (CBS) television on July 14, 2016, to discuss an upcoming Author Event in Columbia, SC.

  • Guest speaker on June 9th for One Hundred Black Men of Tallahassee “We are One”, Diversity and Inclusion Forum, and 10 June serves as a VIP guest for the Black-Tie Gala.

  • Presentation and reading hosted by the City of Mission Viejo and the Orange County, California Genealogical Association on June 18th, 2016. An honor only given to New York Times Best Selling Authors.

  • Chapter One of Quilt of Souls was included in an Anthology of writers from around the world. Stories compiled by Frank Joussein of Germany. Published 2019. Link

  • Appeared on NBC affiliate KBTX, (CBS) College Station, Texas 29 March 2016

  • Guest Speaker at Texas A&M University Women on Women Symposium, 30 March 2016

  • February 2016 Quilt of Souls was placed on the Reader’s List of the Alabama Writer’s Guild/Club

  • December 5th, 2015, interviewed by award-winning Baltimore Sun Newspaper journalist Dan Rodrick. The podcast aired on December 17, 2015, nationwide.

  • On November 11, 2015, achieving a 5 Star Gold Seal from Book Reviewer: Readers Favorite.

  • December 2015, interviewed by Mother Love Rogers on Los Angeles, Talk Radio.

  • Live radio broadcast with Talktainment radio hosted by; S. Yolanda Robinson, August 2015.

  • Featured speaker at the renowned Pratt Library, Baltimore, Maryland for the Brown Lecture Series. Presentation recorded for the Library Podcast and added to their lecture series collection.

  • Live Sirius XM 128 Radio interview; Urban Talk Radio with show host Maggie Linton, March 2015.

  • Newspaper featured interview with the Laurel Leader (Mississippi) October 2015.

  • Appearance on WDAM (NBC) Television Hattiesburg, MS to kick off author tour. It was featured on The Noon Show, in October 2015.

  • November 2015, guest on the National Archives and Beyond internet radio talk show hosted by Bernice Bennett. Discussion on the importance of documenting family history.

  • Quilt of Souls received a Five Star Book Review in the highly viewed Women for One online magazine. May 2015.

  • Featured story and Book Review by Shenoba Kinsey for the Chicago Scene Magazine in June 2015. 

Phyllis’s
military years

In 1973, Phyllis joined the United States Air Force as a WAF (Women’s Air Force) and was one of the first female Aircraft Pneudraulic Specialist for the B-52 Bomber. She served one tour in the Air Force and left the service in 1978.

After leaving the Air Force she attended the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, graduating with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Sociology.  In 2001, she joined the Army National Guard as an Active-duty guard member. She served as an Aviation Operations Specialist and Equal Opportunity Advisor/Diversity Specialist until she retired in 2013.

It’s also noteworthy to mention that Phyllis was one of only a handful of women in the military who served in three major military conflicts including the Vietnam Era where she served a temporary duty assignment to Vietnam before the 1975 fall of Saigon.  She was also deployed to Saudi Arabia as a member of Operation Desert Storm, and in December 2003 as a member of the Army National Guard where she was deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Her civilian career spans from 1984 – 2000 where she worked as a counselor for incarcerated youth and for women who were victims of domestic violence. She also spent ten years as a Substance Abuse Counseling Supervisor.

Self-published
memoir

After retiring from the Army National Guard in 2013, Ms. Biffle-Elmore completed her self-published memoir Quilt of Souls in 2015 and began promoting her book via lectures and other public presentations.

Her self-published version of this poignant memoir garnered a great deal of buzz from social, print, and television media. As a result of Quilt of Souls popularity, Phyllis is now represented by Susan Ginsburg of Writers House Literary Agency of New York and published by Charlesbridge Publishing. Her new book is titled Quilt of Souls: A Memoir and is distributed by Penguin-Random House. The book was released on November 8, 2022, and is now available in audiobook, compact disk, and electronic formats.