{"id":13213,"date":"2024-05-20T08:55:06","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T12:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/?page_id=13213"},"modified":"2024-05-20T08:57:02","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T12:57:02","slug":"jessica-handler","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/jessica-handler\/","title":{"rendered":"Jessica Handler"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"
Photo credit: Royce Soble<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I first began crafting stories in elementary school. Not as a writer, but as a horse. Afternoons when school was out, I paced circles in our front yard, telling myself stories. These were apparently complicated and emotional, because my grandmother later told me that watching me from the window, she\u2019d assumed all my head-tossing and galloping meant I was playing at being a horse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graduating from horse to scribe, I wrote short narratives (although I wouldn\u2019t have known the word then) during dull high school summers, capturing my friends\u2019 romances, family lives, and quotidian dramas. Who broke up with whom, who was marooned at summer camp, and who got caught pocketing mascara at the drugstore were pivotal plot points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In college, I read Joan Didion\u2019s observation that, \u201cwe tell ourselves stories in order to live\u2026 [We] live entirely, especially if we are writers, by the imposition of a narrative line upon disparate images.\u201d In those words I recognized why I write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am compelled by a single theme in my fiction and nonfiction: women and girls bearing more responsibility than they believe they can carry, and the ways they \u2014 we \u2014 learn to thrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My memoir, Invisible Sisters<\/em>, tells my story of my coming of age as the surviving \u201cwell sibling\u201d of three sisters. My second book, Braving The Fire: A Guide to Writing About Grief and Loss<\/em>, is a craft guide that considers ways to write well about heartbreak. My novel The Magnetic Girl<\/em>, which tells my imagined story of the true-life vaudeville sensation Lulu Hurst, was honored with the 2020 Southern Book Prize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I earned my MFA from Queens University of Charlotte, and my B.S. from Emerson College in Boston. In a former career universe I worked behind the scenes on television shows that you probably watched in the \u201880s and \u201890s. More recently I\u2019ve served as the Ferrol Sams, Jr. Distinguished Writer in Residence at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, been honored with the Kenyon Review Peter Taylor Nonfiction Fellowship, and enjoyed writing residencies at The Hambidge Center in Rabun Gap, Georgia, the Newnan, Georgia \u201cArtsRez,\u201d and elsewhere. I\u2019m currently a visiting faculty member at West Virginia Wesleyan College\u2019s low-residency MFA, a member of the faculty at the Etowah Valley MFA at Reinhardt College in Waleska, Georgia, and a mentor in the AWP Writer to Writer program. I live in Atlanta with my husband, novelist Mickey Dubrow, sometimes multiple cats, and a drum kit and guitar that I don\u2019t play enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regal House Publishing is delighted to bring you Jessica’s novel The World to Se<\/em>e in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I first began crafting stories in elementary school. Not as a writer, but as a horse. Afternoons when school was out, I paced circles in our front yard, telling myself stories. These were apparently complicated and emotional, because my grandmother later told me that watching me from the window, she\u2019d assumed all my head-tossing and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-13213","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry"},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9DpGh-3r7","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13094,"url":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/stephen-pett\/","url_meta":{"origin":13213,"position":0},"title":"Stephen Pett","author":"Jaynie","date":"February 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Winner of W. S. Porter Prize Writing, my default. I read a patchwork of things growing up, but the one constant, because it was on a shelf in my bedroom, was a set of Mark Twain's writings that had belonged to one of my grandparents. I was a non-Mormon in\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Stephen Pett","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Author-photo-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Author-photo-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Author-photo-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Author-photo-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Author-photo-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Author-photo-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5115,"url":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/mary-sullivan\/","url_meta":{"origin":13213,"position":1},"title":"Mary Sullivan","author":"Jaynie","date":"May 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Mary grew up in a small Massachusetts town with ten brothers and sisters, a cat, a dog, a rabbit, and in the winter horses from a nearby\u00a0farm. She spent her early years running in the woods, catching snakes, playing games, putting on plays and circuses, going to work with her\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Mary Sullivan","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/MaryLouiseSullivan1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/MaryLouiseSullivan1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/MaryLouiseSullivan1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/MaryLouiseSullivan1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/MaryLouiseSullivan1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/MaryLouiseSullivan1.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8497,"url":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/crissa-jean-chappell\/","url_meta":{"origin":13213,"position":2},"title":"Crissa-Jean Chappell","author":"Jaynie","date":"November 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo credit: Harlan Erskine Crissa-Jean Chappell was born in Miami, Florida. As a kid, she climbed the oaks in her backyard near the bay and imagined that their branches were the scaly skins of flying dragons. She spent a lot of time talking to invisible creatures. The hall closet was\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/crissa-chappell-portraitbw-1-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/crissa-chappell-portraitbw-1-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/crissa-chappell-portraitbw-1-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/crissa-chappell-portraitbw-1-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13217,"url":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/shasta-grant\/","url_meta":{"origin":13213,"position":3},"title":"Shasta Grant","author":"Jaynie","date":"May 20, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Shasta Grant grew up in Newport, New Hampshire. She\u2019s loved reading and writing for as long as she can remember. In first grade, she wrote a story about an apple that could walk and talk. He wore a little black hat and brown shoes. It won first prize in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Shasta Grant","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/shasta_bw.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":629,"url":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/joyce-davis\/","url_meta":{"origin":13213,"position":4},"title":"Joyce Davis","author":"Jaynie","date":"August 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"One day, when her second child was new to the first grade, Joyce asked herself what she would like to do with her life. Well, she thought, I would like to write if I had something to say. She remembered being fresh out of high school and taking the old\u00a0Art\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Joyce Davis, Regal House author","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/joyce_davis.jpg?fit=956%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/joyce_davis.jpg?fit=956%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/joyce_davis.jpg?fit=956%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/joyce_davis.jpg?fit=956%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14674,"url":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/james-knisely\/","url_meta":{"origin":13213,"position":5},"title":"James Knisely","author":"Jaynie","date":"March 11, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"One day as I was hitching through a dusty corner of Wyoming, I was picked up by a carload of hard, coarse men who led me to believe they meant to murder me and leave me in the Utah desert. They didn't. They were phosphate miners having some \u201cfun\u201d on\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/jimbo-neutralbg-gry-1-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/jimbo-neutralbg-gry-1-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/jimbo-neutralbg-gry-1-scaled.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/jimbo-neutralbg-gry-1-scaled.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/jimbo-neutralbg-gry-1-scaled.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/jimbo-neutralbg-gry-1-scaled.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13213"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13216,"href":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13213\/revisions\/13216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}