Jessica Jacobs
Current City, State, Country
Birth City, State, Country
Biography
Jessica Jacobs is the author of Take Me with You, Wherever You’re Going (Four Way Books), named one of Library Journal‘s Best Poetry Books of the year, winner of the Devil’s Kitchen Reading Award from Southern Illinois University and the Goldie Award from the Golden Crown Literary Society, and a finalist for the Brockman-Campbell, American Fiction, Eric Hoffer, and Julie Suk Book Awards. Her debut collection, Pelvis with Distance (White Pine Press), won the New Mexico Book Award in Poetry, was an Over the Rainbow selection by the American Library Association and a finalist for the Lambda Literary and Julie Suk Awards. Her chapbook In Whatever Light Left to Us was published by Sibling Rivalry Press. unalone, her collection of poems in conversation with the Book of Genesis, will be published by Four Way Books in March 2024.
Jessica holds an M.F.A. from Purdue University, where she served as the Editor-in-Chief of Sycamore Review, and a B.A. from Smith College. Her poetry, essays, and fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in publications including Orion, Ploughshares, Image, and New England Review. An avid long-distance runner, she has worked as a rock climbing instructor, bartender, and professor—leading workshops around the country and teaching for the Fine Arts Work Center, UNC-Wilmington’s MFA program, and Writing Workshops in Greece, among other programs—and serves as an editorial board member of Beloit Poetry Journal and as a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network’s Board of Trustees.
With Nickole Brown, she co-authored Write It!, a collection of writing prompts from Spruce Books, an imprint of Penguin/RandomHouse, and co-founded SunJune Literary Collaborative, which offers workshops and free online generative writing sessions.
Jessica is the founder, president, and executive director of Yetzirah.
Published Works
Poetry
unalone (Four Way Books, forthcoming March 2024)
Take Me with You, Wherever You’re Going (Four Way Books, 2019)
In Whatever Light Left to Us (chapbook; Sibling Rivalry Press, 2016)
Pelvis with Distance (White Pine Press, 2015)
Writing Craft Book
Write It! 100 Poetry Prompts to Inspire, co-authored with Nickole Brown (Spruce Books/PenguinRandomHouse, 2020)
Author Site
Links to Sample Works
Video Reading
Current Title
Education
Smith College, B.A.
Purdue University, M.F.A in Poetry