If you did not get a chance to stop by Bergman theater Friday October 20th then you missed the English department’s fall reading series’ guest speaker, Jac Jemc. Jemc is a published writer that was able to do a reading and book signing here at Concordia from her new novel, The Grip of It. The Grip of It follows the suburban couple of James and Julie as they search to find a new home. James, having gambling issues, quickly settles into buying a house they later have strange feelings about. Strange things begin happen surrounding the new house, and Jemc follows their journey into uncovering its secrets.
Jemc is a fellow Chicagoan who has been the recipient of two Illinois Arts Council Professional Development Grants, and was named as one of 25 Writers to Watch by the Guild Literary Complex. She’s taught English and Creative Writing at the University of Notre Dame, Northeastern Illinois University, Loyola University Chicago, Lake Forest College. She is also the author of My Only Wife, Different Bed Every Time, and These Strangers She’d Invited In. Jemc’s A Different Bed Every Time was named Amazon’s Best Story Collections of 2014.
Jemc was also able to answer a few questions following the reading; one of which that was asked was how long Jemc had been working on The Grip of It before it got published. She announced that she had starting writing this book in 2011, had gotten through two drafts by 2013 and had then began querying agents to represent her and sell her book. The process from then on was a gruesome one because she and her agent had been revising her book for 3 years, unsure if it would actually sell. She and her agent were able to sell her book in February of last year, and then able to sell it to the public by August 2017.
The Grip of It is a fairly new book and a few of us were given the opportunity to hear this talented writer read her work aloud and answer a couple of our audience questions. She is an exquisite writer and if you are interested you can purchase her novel in Barnes & Noble.
