Jessica Keener

I grew up in the greater Boston area, graduating from high school early because, frankly, I couldn't wait to get out and explore the world outside the classroom.

Got my B.A. in English from Boston University. Graduated with honors a few months before checking into a hospital to get a bone marrow transplant for a fatal blood disorder called Aplastic Anemia.

Got my M.A. from Brown University, Creative Writing program. Received a full-tuition scholarship based solely on writing excellence.

Started publishing stories, including one called Recovery, which won Redbook's second prize and eventually grew into a novel called Body Chemistry. .

Married and moved to Miami, Florida. Taught ESL, freshman literature and composition classes at the University of Miami, FL. More recently, taught writing at Boston University (2002, 2003).

After Miami, moved to Atlanta then to Budapest, Hungary, then to Portland, ME, back to Greater Boston.

In addition to teaching, I've held several writing and editing jobs including technical writer at a large insurance company in Boston, development writer and editor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and an internship at The Atlantic Monthly.

I began freelancing full-time in 1997 for The Boston Globe Magazine and other national magazines including O, The Oprah Magazine, Inspired House, Coastal Living, Poets & Writers. I love the variety and enjoy working on deadline.

My short stories have appeared in literary magazines such as Sundog:the Southeast Review, Chariton Review, Northwest Corridor, Heat City Literary Review, Elixir and cited in The Pushcart Prize. Other stories have been finalists or place winners in various contests.

I am also a grateful recipient of a 2000 Massachusetts Cultural Council finalist grant in fiction.

In recent years I've been on a few radio shows and was surprised by how much fun I had. You can listen to my National Pubic Radio interview with John Ydstie (click on link). Ydstie asked me to talk about Bill Rosenberg, the founder of Dunkin' Donuts and coauthor of my book, TIME TO MAKE THE DONUTS. Bill died in 2002 at the age 86. He was a fascinating, unique man.

These days I am a fiction editor at Agni, which is published at Boston University and edited by Sven Birkerts (see Agni link in left column).

Throughout this time line, starting back in 1980, I've been connected to the Aplastic Anemia and MDS International Foundation. My husband and I are on the Board of Overseers at the CBR Institute for Biomedical Research in Boston. You can link to both of these (links on left) to learn more about existing cures and potential cures for life-threatening diseases including bone marrow failures, AIDS, and immunologically-rooted diseases such as Krone's disease and Multiple Sclerosis.

Well, I guess that's enough preaching for good causes. At least for now.

All best,

Jessica