about jill

Growing up, Jill very nearly failed all of her math classes because she spent her evenings after school writing stories rather than doing her homework. As an adult, she is grateful for the calculator on her phone and has been called "a stylish and sparkly writer" by the New York Times, so it all worked out.

An advocate for ending book banning in prisons, her Wall Street Journal bestselling memoir Reading Behind Bars was a finalist for the 2020 Ohioana Book Award and the 2020 In the Margins Social Justice and Advocacy Book Award. She has also written about her experiences as a prison librarian for Cleveland Magazine and C&RL News.

A three time half marathoner, her first memoir, Running With a Police Escort, examines being a slow runner at races. Other writing appears in The Millions, Bust, Bitch, Perspectives on Reading, Potomac Review, and Fatventure Mag. Jill has her BFA in creative writing from Bowling Green State University and her MLIS from the University of Kentucky. She is the creator of the Professional Book Nerds podcast, which she co-hosted from 2015 - 2023. 

She lives in Cleveland with her husband, five cats, and more books than they have room for. She is represented by Joanna MacKenzie at Nelson Literary Agency.