New York Times bestselling novelist Joshilyn Jackson appeared at Smyrna Public Library. Her presentation was entitled "Breaking Ground on a New Novel: Where and How Do Books Begin?" A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty, Jackson’s fifth novel, begins with a literal groundbreaking: As the Slocumb family uproots their backyard willow tree to make room for a swimming pool, a box of human remains is discovered. The bones have been hidden there for 15 years, and a host of secrets and lies are unearthed with them. Jackson, known for her twisted plots and fun sense of humor, talked about the landscape that gave rise to this book and answered questions about reading, word play, process, and the writing life.
We had a full house in attendance. One fan (left side of the photo of Ms. Jackson) drove in from South Carolina to attend.
About Joshilyn Jackson
Jackson is a novelist of Southern fiction. Her new book, Someone Else’s Love Story, is due out in November of this year and is set in Atlanta.
Jackson's books have been translated into a dozen languages, won the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance's novel of the year, twice been a #1 Book Sense Pick, twice won Georgia Author of the Year, and twice been shortlisted for the Townsend prize.A former actor, Jackson reads the audio versions of her novels; her work in this field has been nominated for the Audie Award, was selected by AudioFile Magazine for their best of the year list, has made the 2012 Audible All-Star list for highest listener ranks/reviews, and garnered three Listen Up Awards from Publisher’s Weekly. In 2012, Jackson began reading the audio versions of books written by other novelists, beginning with Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer.
Jackson lives in Decatur, Georgia with her husband, Scott, and their two children, Sam and Maisy Jane.
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