Features

From insightful interviews to engaging essays, Jessica's work resonates with readers and critics alike.

April 2019

7 Honest Books About Hoaxes

I’ve long wondered what makes a person believe something improbable — either really believe, or convince themselves to err on the side of a questionable opinion, even if on some level they suspect they’re being taken for a ride.

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Electric Literature

January 2018

Siberia, Atlanta

When I tell you that my mother’s father was born in a Siberian prison, I’ll remind you that was because his parents were perhaps exiled as retribution for political acts. Or simply because they were Jews. He, however, was a baby.

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Brevity Mag

August 2017

On the Aftermath of a Home Made Bomb

When I was in my twenties, the house I shared with roommates in Arlington, Massachusetts was vandalized with a Molotov cocktail. This was the mid-1980s.

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The Manifestation

March 2017

Seance City, Florida

Most of my family is dead. I see them all the time, although it’s more accurate to say I feel them. Sometimes I think if I could turn my head quickly enough I’d catch them just behind my shoulders, but I never do.

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Bitter Southerner

August 2016

Night Time Is A Place

It’s August. The heat weighs down on the South into the wee hours, and bored suburban teenagers sneak quietly out their bedroom windows to find each other, to find community in a world that isn’t their parents’.

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Bitter Southerner

November 2015

You in the Beige

In some circles, Southern is still an unsettling quirk, an excuse for caricature—like the mute and heroic Boo Radley or wanton Daisy Mae Scragg, heartthrob of Dogpatch.

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Atlanta Magazine

January 2015

Write What You Don’t Know

As nonfiction writers, we’re proud of our fealty to the truth. We don’t make things up. Or, if we do make things up, we employ the deftness and elegance of signal phrases.

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Creative NonFiction

December 2013

Screenplay, “Outside the Wire”

In this short film made for the 48 Hour Film Festival, we explore the sense of reality and memory, in a nod to a famous scene from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."

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SuperLux

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The World To See

When teenager Nadine Harvey helps her best friend hide a disturbing secret, she’s also concealing her own deepest truth: she’ll do almost anything to be wanted.

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Events

Join Jessica Handler for writing workshops, book signings, and engaging conversations with award-winning authors!

Jun 26, 2026

In Conversation with Suzanne Van Atten at Book Soup, Los Angeles

In conversation with Suzanne Van Atten

Link Register here >

Jul 18, 2026

Write/Share Greenville Summer Camp!

Pack up your pencil and spend the weekend with local authors, beginning writers, and publishing industry professionals. We’ll take care of the programming, the trail mix, the camp t-shirt, and the [inflatable] campfire. All the good stuff—without the mosquitoes. We’ll have various panels and classes in the morning, and author Jessica Handler will teach the whole afternoon. Stick around after camp for our first-ever BLOCK PARTY!

Link Register here >