Jess is a Professional Book Person in every sense of the word. With a Bachelor’s degree in the Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities from Washington University in St. Louis and a Masters in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University, she has honed her love and attention to the written word into a career in which she can produce her own words and help others make theirs the best they can. A full-time writer, she spreads the wealth and love across several different kinds of bookish work: she is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot, where she writes about romance and other bookish things and co-hosts the When in Romance podcast, and also does Bibliologist work for TBR, a subsidiary of Riot New Media. She is a Developmental Editor for Black Girls Who Edit, where she works with Black women and other gender expansive folks to make their work as amazing as they are, with awareness for culture and voice that you can’t always get. She’s also going into business with the amazing Hannah Gómez, whose Cultural Accuracy and Sensitivity Editing process has become the gold standard for authors writing beyond their ken. Keep an eye out for a big announcement soon!
And of course, there’s the actual writing bit. She mostly writes about books, though she can occasionally be found pondering on music and pop culture. As an equal-opportunity nerd, she is happy to talk about everything from Doctor Who to Rachmaninoff’s All Night Vigil.
Which she might. Non-stop.
But of course, romance is her first love, and while she spends most of her time writing about the ones she’s read and recommending them to others, she has every intention of publishing romance in the near future. She is currently working on a self-guided MFA via craft books, and is working on stories of all lengths to offer, whether in book form, in short fiction publications, or here on her website. You might see some writing prompts every now and then, crossposted on her Medium and Substack pages. (She has a lot of feelings about Substack and their platforming of white supremacists, but also understands that’s where people go, and has curated a selection of amazing Black women to follow over there.)
Jess is nothing if not ambitious; in addition to everything else, she is on the board of directors for the 4th & 4th Foundation in Tucson, and has finally actualized a years-long dream of opening a romance bookstore, Why Choose!
And through it all, her love affair with books continues to develop. She is a reader first, and then all the other stuff. She loves kissing books of all kinds, but prefers them with a Happily Ever After. Give her a romance novel and she’ll be set. She’s particularly interested in stories that link love and social justice, and will always advocate for the underrepresented to get their happy ending, whether in the present, the past, or a galaxy far far away.
Black Love Matters: Real Talk on Romance, Being Seen, and Happily Ever Afters, edited by Jessica P. Pryde, is out now!
Check out her story “Why Won’t You Die?” in the romance short story collection Someplace Generous, also out now!
She is represented by Tara Gelsomino at One Track Literary Agency.