Title Details

If Jessica Bell could choose only one creative mentor, she'd give the role to Euterpe, the Greek muse of music and lyrics. This is not only because she currently resides in Athens, Greece, but because of her life as a 30-something Australian-native contemporary fiction author, award-winning poet and singer/songwriter/guitarist, whose literary inspiration often stems from songs she's written.

Being the daughter of a semi-famous rock 'n' roll duo from Melbourne, she grew up surrounded by song. For a while it seemed logical to travel the musician's path, especially when her first band, spAnk, hit it off in the Melbourne indie music scene back in the late 90s. Although she spent her years writing and recording dozens of songs she decided she also had a love for the written word, and began to pursue a career as a writer.

She started as a poet, drawing from her musical background and etching her thoughts and feelings into verse. Those stanzas soon turned into sentences and paragraphs, and eventually into published books. Her literary voice is said to overflow with "lyrical descriptions, unique metaphors, tight dialogue, and an abundance of sensory detail." She has also been told she has the ability to take a seemingly ordinary three-chord type story and turn it into a main stage event.

In addition to her novels, her poetry collections (including FABRIC, which was nominated for the Goodreads Choice Awards in 2012), and her pocket writing guides (WRITING IN A NUTSHELL SERIES), she has published a variety of works in online and print literary journals and anthologies, including Australia's Cordite Review, and the anthologies 100 STORIES FOR QUEENSLAND and SHADOWS AT THE STAGE DOOR, both released through Australia's, eMergent Publishing.

Additionally, she is the Co-Publishing Editor of Vine Leaves Literary Journal, and makes a living as an editor/writer for English Language Teaching publishers worldwide, such as Pearson Education, HarperCollins, Macmillan Education, Education First and Cengage Learning.

Note: Check out the Homeric Writers' Retreat & Workshop she annually runs. In 2012 she had Chuck Sambuchino of Writer's Digest, this year, 2013, she has Katharine Sands, New York literary agent as the main instructor.

"From "Spandex" to the Greek kafeneion, there are unexpected
juxtapositions and discoveries to be found in Jessica Bell's poetry Fabric. This
voice is equally inspired by the quotidian, Greek jargon words, and the mythic
figures of Echo and Narcissus, Aphrodite, and, of course, Euterpe, the muse of
music and the lyric. The interstices of the so-called ordinary with the always
larger dramas of feeling and its consequences are among the subjects this young
poet explores in her vivid weave of language." ~Adrianne Kalfopoulou,
author of Wild Greens, Cumulus and Passion Maps

"Jessica Bell's FABRIC is a rich collection of poems that take the reader
on a deep tour of the psyche. Charting and moving across politics of language,
Bell explores love, pain, failure and redemption from a variety of angles. Most
of the poems sit at the fragile threshold of instinct and meaning, using symbol
and sensation to get to the shock of denouement. This is a significant
collection that bears multiple readings, each time yielding something
fresh." ~Magdalena Ball, author of Black
Cow, Sleep Before Evening, and
Repulsion Thrust

"Mixing both light and dark subjects, Fabric slips as smoothly as silk
across the poetry-lover's mind. Bell knows what she's doing, and she won't
disappoint with this elegantly textured collection. Truly a treasure!"
~Michelle Davidson Argyle, author of Cinders
and True Colors

"Fabric is spun with threads of imagination, realism, and unanswered
questions. Jessica Bell weaves from the outer edges of the human condition to
the inner tapestry of the mind, sewing through love, trust, and betrayal. Bell
is adept with words and imagery ; her edgy tone, both daring and tender,
seamlessly captures the hearts and minds of everyday people." ~Angela
Felsted, author of Cleave

"With a deft touch and an acute eye, Jessica Bell weaves humanity into
startling vistas, blending the vivid threads of contemporary introspection
among a tapestry of tangible scenery. The seamless entwining of the historical
with the present, results in a garment the reader may slip on with pleasure, at
any moment, and find themselves lost in its intricacies, and more beautiful for
its embrace." ~Vicky Ellis, author and poet