Madelyn Rosenberg

I met Jackie Jules soon after I moved to Arlington, Va., when my tiny critique group (three people) was invited to join her critique group, which was larger but which ebbed and flowed. I’ve been a part of that group for four and a half years now — a group that features women of varying ages, personalities and temperaments, all arguing and laughing and yelling over line after line of one another’s work.

It’s a beautiful thing.

During those years I’ve seen a number of Jackie’s books go from a draft on a piece of recycled paper to a hard-bound copy available in bookstores near you. Zapato Power, which is being released today by Albert Whitman, is one of those books. (The grand total of Jackie’s books that have come into being while I’ve been in the group is something like 10 — we figured it out once. And two of them have received Sydney Taylor Honor Awards. It’s the sort of thing that could make someone a tiny bit jealous. Ahem. I’d be more jealous if I didn’t know how hard Jackie works. A lot of sweat and care goes into everything she writes, as you’ll see from the conversation that follows, when Jackie joins me on the paprika couch in my lovely blog living room.)
Read on!