THE RUMPUS Features “WHAT THEY NEVER TOLD ME, WHAT I NEVER ASKED: REFLECTING ON ROOTS AND WRITING”

While the miracle of analyzing your DNA can inform you of the origins of your ancestry, it will not offer you much about what they experienced, what they thought, what they felt, learned or endured in their lifetimes. Historians surely understand the pangs of such a loss and must rely on those who bore witness […]

HUFFINGTON POST Features “Reflections on Balancing Family Life While Pursuing My Career as a Writer”

As a committed writer of imaginative fiction for virtually my entire life, I have often wondered about the effect my obsessive conduct and allocation of time to pursue such an occupation has had on my relationships with family, friends and others who need and crave my attention. What is the ultimate effect of a writer’s […]

Jennifer Brown Banks

Growing up as an awkward, shy teen, words provided refuge. Whether it was getting lost between the pages of a steamy romance novel, or penning my thoughts through poetry. When I was hurt, I wrote. When I had questions of life, I wrote. I kept journals. Lots of them. In every color, size and shape. […]