Jennifer Steil

Creative Nonfiction Writer, Fiction Writer

New York, NY
New York US
Email: 
jfsteil@gmail.com
Website: 
www.jennifersteil.net

Author's Bio

Jennifer Steil is the author of The Woman Who Fell From the Sky, An American Woman’s Adventures in the Oldest City on Earth (2010, Broadway Books/Random House), a memoir of the year she spent as editor of the Yemen Observer newspaper in Sana’a, Yemen. The book received accolades in The New York Times, Newsweek, and the Sydney Morning Herald among other publications. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune chose it as one of their best travel books of the year in 2010, and Elle magazine awarded it their Readers’ Prize. It has been published in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, and Poland.
The Ambassador’s Wife is her first novel. It will be published by Doubleday in spring 2015. She is already at work on her next two books.
While she currently works full-time as a writer, theatre was her first love. She completed a bachelor’s degree in theatre at Oberlin College before working for four years as a professional actor in Seattle. During this time, she became increasingly frustrated with the limited roles available to women and the dearth of female voices in the theatre world at large. Without abandoning theatre, she began dedicating more time to her writing, eventually completing a master’s degree in creative writing/fiction at Sarah Lawrence College and a second master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Since 1997, she has worked as a reporter, writer, and editor for newspapers and magazines in the US and abroad. Recent work includes a piece on Yemen in the World Policy Journal, a Yemen piece for the German paper Die Welt, and several London stories for the Washington Times.
After spending four years in Yemen and two years in London, she moved to La Paz, Bolivia in September 2012 with her husband and young daughter.

Publications & Prizes

Creative Nonfiction

Book:
The Woman Who Fell From the Sky (Broadway Books, 2010)

Fiction

Book:
The Ambassador's Wife (Doubleday, 2015)
Prizes won: 

Winner, Best Novel, 2013 William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, for The Ambassador’s Wife
First Runner-up, 2012 William Faulkner -William Wisdom
Creative Writing Competition, Novel-in-Progress category, for Chiaroscuro (now called The Ambassador’s Wife)
Residency, Willapa Bay, Washington, July 2014
Residency, Can Serrat, Spain, November 2014
Residency, The Byrdcliffe Artist in Residence Program, Woodstock, NY June/July 2013
Residency, Arte Studio Ginestrelle, Assisi, Italy, April 2013
Residency, The Julia and David White Artists’ Colony, Costa Rica, Sept. 2005
Consultant/Speaker, A Room of Her Own Women’s Writing Retreat, August 2013, New Mexico
First Place, Specialty Reporting Portfolio, the New Jersey Press
Association's 1998 Better Newspaper Contest
First Place (staff award), Lloyd P. Burns Memorial Award for Public
Service, for the series "Heroin: A Clear and Present Danger," the New
Jersey Press Association's 1998 Better Newspaper Contest

Teaching Experience

Taught a journalism workshop to the students of Wellington College in Crowthorne, England in 2011

Conducted journalism training courses for the staff of the Yemen Times in Sana’a, Yemen in 2009

Conducted journalism training courses for the staff of the Yemen Observer in Sana’a, Yemen in 2006-2007

Taught test preparation for the SAT, GRE, GMAT, and LSAT with the Princeton Review from 1993 to 1997

Taught Shakespeare in Performance to high school seniors at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire in the summer of 1990

Speaking Engagements

2013 I was an invited speaker at the A Room of Her Own Women’s Writing Retreat, August 2013, New Mexico

2012 I was an invited speaker at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. I also have given talks on Yemen and my book in Amsterdam, The Hague, Dubai, and Cairo, as well as at Columbia University, Fordham University, Sarah Lawrence College, Boston University, and the Vermont Council on World Affairs.

Personal Favorites

What I'm reading now: 
Unquenchable Thirst by Mary Johnson, Elect H. Mouse State Judge by Nelly Reifler, Where the God of Love Hangs Out by Amy Bloom

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
European American
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Boston
Raised in: 
Groton, MA
Massachusetts
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Oct 24, 2013