 She gained a PhD in counselling psychology from an American university in 1987 while working at the Institute of Education.Gilroy's creative writing began in childhood, as a teacher for children and then in the 1960s when she began writing what was later published by Peepal Tree Press as "In Praise of Love and Children".Between 1970 and 1975 she wrote the pioneering children's series "Nippers", containing probably the first reflection of the Black British presence in UK writing for children.