Jacquelyn Vincenta

Jacquelyn Vincenta

Born into the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, I only discovered in college how much I loved the vast fields and sky of the Midwest. I studied English and creative writing at the University of Iowa, and the countryside there set my heart on a path that would eventually lead to Michigan. But not before my first paid writing job, as police beat reporter for a daily newspaper in Louisiana, and various less-relevant employment, such as years managing the accounts for a Customs broker in Houston.

Michigan has been my home, physically and spiritually, since I was a young mother, and now that my children are grown I am still joyful every day to be living here, near the Great Lakes with their beautiful dunes, woods, rivers, orchards and towns. Years ago, with my former husband in a small southwest Michigan city, I founded and managed a publishing company that specialized in international trade publications. We built it up from a kitchen counter project we hoped might support us while we raised our children, into a multi-media operation that was eventually purchased by Thomson Reuters.

Now, at my home in Kalamazoo, I write fiction and non-fiction, read a wide variety of literature, spend time on local Earth-care projects, volunteer at Michigan lighthouses, and cherish the amazing people in my life. I enjoy the world by foot, bicycle and kayak, from time to time wandering foreign lands, everywhere gathering experiences and questions to take back to my writing desk.