Jessica D. Thompson, a native of Kentucky, lives in a stone house on twenty-five acres at the edge of a classified forest in Southern Indiana. Most of the poems in Daybreak and Deep were written in the nearby village of New Harmony, Indiana, the site of an early Utopian settlement.
For many years, Jessica worked as a Human Resource professional while simultaneously serving as a crisis office volunteer, as well as a hospital and legal advocate for a battered women’s shelter.
Her poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has been published in numerous journals and anthologies, among them: Appalachian Heritage, The Southern Review, Ruminate Magazine, Tiferet Journal, and Circe’s Lament: Anthology of Wild Women Poetry (Accents Publishing). Her awards include the James Baker Hall Memorial Prize in Poetry (New Southerner, 2013) and the Kudzu Poetry Prize (2014). She was a finalist in the Joy Bale Boone Poetry Prize (The Heartland Review, 2012), the Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize (Ruminate Magazine, 2014), and the Betty Gabehart Prize in Poetry (Kentucky Women Writers, 2016). In 2022, the title poem in this collection, “Daybreak and Deep,” was a finalist in the Joy Bale Boone Poetry Prize (The Heartland Review).
She has a soft spot for dogs, butter croissants, and strong, black coffee.
Paperback: 72 pages
Publisher: Kelsay Books (September 7, 2022)
Awards:
American Book Fest: 2022 Narrative Poetry Finalist
Eric Hoffer Award 2023 da Vinci Eye Finalist
Indiana Author Awards 2024 Finalist
Publicity:
Verse Daily Featured Poem