About the Author

Jill Jennings

Following careers in journalism and teaching (Latin and English), Jill Jennings has devoted the past nineteen years to writing full-time. In 2008 her first full-length book of poems, The Poetry Alarm Clock, ( iUniverse) debuted, and was followed in 2012 by Dead Man’s Flower, (Yawn’s Publishing), a collection of poems written following the year and a half in which she faced the deaths of her mother, father, first husband and great aunt.

Year after year, dozens of her poems have received awards, many with cash prizes, and have been published in these venues: Oberon Poetry Magazine; Calamaro; Atlanta Review; Encore, Reach of Song; Poetry of the Golden Age; Cherokee Tribune Newspaper; The Georgia Bulletin; and featured on Kinver Radio in the United Kingdom.

Jill holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in Classics from the University of Georgia, has studied Latin and ancient Greek; is fluent in French and reads Spanish. For years, she taught writing  for teens in the public schools, and for adults, poetry and memoir classes. Twice she has been included in Who’s Who in American Teachers. Since retirement and relocation to Florida in 2016, she has produced and presented four Lehigh Acres Teen Poetry Slam events with cash prizes for the East County Library in Lehigh Acres, Florida. A past Vice President, Secretary and Publicity Chair for the Georgia Poetry Society, Jill also served as co-Coordinator for the Johns Creek Poetry Group in Johns Creek, Georgia. She’s a member of the Florida State Poets Association; and The American Association of University Women, Fort Myers Chapter. In 2013 she earned an International Merit Award from Atlanta Review. Later that year, she was awarded a United States Congressional Commendation for achievement in both poetry and teaching. She lives with her husband of thirty-four years, Paul Cheng, without whose support much less of her writing would have ever appeared print. You can get in touch with Jill at www.jilljennings.org or email her at magistra_jennings@yahoo.com