Jessica Vealitzek

Jessica Vealitzek grew up in the Midwest, in a middle-class Chicago suburb, the middle child of a C.P.A. with the heart of a literature professor and a homemaker with the mind of an entrepreneur. My family told stories around the dinner table. I listened. After college (in the Midwest), and a move to another city (in the Midwest), she wrote for money, first as an exhibit writer and then as a political communications director. Then she moved back to her hometown, had children, and finally did what she'd always wanted to do: sit in a room and write for free. Her debut novel, The Rooms Are Filled, was published in the spring of 2014. It is loosely based on one of my family’s stories. She also write online for Great New Books, PDXX Collective and blogs at True STORIES. She is also a contributor to the anthologies Three Minus One and The HerStories Project.