Jo Kadlecek is a former waitress, soccer player and English teacher who's long been hooked on stories. Though she grew up in Denver, Jo has discovered stories everywhere she's gone, whether living in Mississippi, biking through Ireland, or sitting on a subway in New York City where she and Chris lived for seven years before moving to the Joisey Shore. When she changed careers in 1992, leaving ten years of full time teaching (at a high school and college) to enter the adventure of freelance writing, she wasn't sure just what stories she'd find, experience or write. She just knew she had to dive in.
Since then, she's written dozens of feature stories, personality profiles, investigative articles, and interviews, covering higher education, religion, urban issues and the arts. Her writing has appeared in publications such as the Columbia University Record (where she was a staff writer for almost two years), Barnard College Magazine, Prism Magazine, Religion News Service, Forecast, Discipleship Journal, Inklings, and The Saturday Evening Post.
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But Jo has always had a particular fondness for books. She loves the feel of holding a great story in your hands, reading it on your couch or in a plane, getting lost in its characters, insights and wonders. Still, she never expected she would write one, let alone nine, so she's grateful to report the titles of several non-fiction works you can pick up either online or at your local book store:
RECKLESS FAITH: PASSONATE LIVING FOR IMPERFECT CHRISTIANS, A STUDY ON THE LIFE OF PETER, Shaw/Waterbrook Press (Random House), 2004
FEAR: A SPIRITUAL NAVIGATION. Shaw/Waterbook (Random House), 2001
WINTER FLOWERS AND OTHER SIGNS OF REDEMPTION, (Broadman and Holman) 2001.
FEAST OF LIFE: SPIRITUAL FOOD FOR BALANCED LIVING, Baker Books, 1999
I CALL YOU FRIEND: FOUR WOMEN'S STORIES OF RACE, FAITH, AND FRIENDSHIP. Co-authored with Pamela Toussaint. Broadman and Holman, 1999
Jo also has ghost written Mrs. Norman Vincent Peale's autobiography, A Century of Positive Thinking (Guideposts, 2001) as well as Dr. Taylor Field's book, A Church Called Graffiti (Broadman/Holman, 2001), and Dr. John Perkins book, Resurrecting Hope (Regal 1996).
In the spring of 2005, her first work of fiction was released: The Sound of My Voice: A Novel (Waterbrook Press). In September 2006 her second work of fiction was published: A Mile from Sunday, (NavPress) which is the first book of the Lightfoot Trilogy. Following her relocation to Massachusetts in summer 2006, she completed Book 2 and Book 3 of the trilogy, A Quarter after Tuesday, and A Minute before Friday, (NavPress). In the same period, Baker Books released her Desperate Women of the Bible.
Her new memoir, Woman Overboard, will be published by Freshair in the summer of 2009, and in April 2009 Jo presents the final manuscript of her next Baker book – a sequel to Desperate Women of the Bible, this time on Resurrection.
Jo is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, holds Master of Arts degrees in communication, and humanities. She teaches often at retreats, conferences and writing workshops and is both a faculty member teaching creative writing, and Senior Writer for the Office of Communication at Gordon College, Wenham MA. |
