if only you people would follow directions

by Jessica Hendry Nelson

Spellbinding debut that reimagines the memoir of the authors life thoroughly through her own voice.

244 pages, Hardcover

First published June 3, 2014

About the author

Raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Jessica Hendry Nelson earned a BA in English from the University of New Hampshire and an MFA in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in The Threepenny Review, The Carolina Quarterly, Crab Orchard Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, Drunken Boat, Alligator Juniper, Fringe, and PANK. A chapter from this book, "The Whitest Winter Light," won first place in Alligator Juniper's national nonfiction contest and is a Notable essay in Best American Essays 2012. "Here Fishy, Fishy" was a finalist in Crab Orchard Review's 2011 John Guyon Literary Prize Competition and the title piece was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Nelson teaches writing at Johnson State College. In 2013, she co-founded the Renegade Writers' Collective in Burlington, Vermont. Currently, she is the Nonfiction and Managing editor of Green Mountains Review and lives in Winooski, Vermont.