The Aside: Conversations with authors just off the page . . . with our first guest author Jeannée Sacken

Each episode features a focused conversation with an author about their work and the ideas that shape their stories, along with some potentially quirky questions you might not be expecting!

I’m an author (as you all know), but you might not know that I have a journalism degree . . . so here I get to channel my insatiable curiosity. (Some might call this nosiness!) I’m excited to ask authors about their work and the ideas that shape their writing—and it’ll be fun to ask some quirky questions, too.

If you love reading, writing, or simply learning more about some of your favorite authors, you’re in the right place.

Today’s featured author is Jeannée Sacken. Her Annie Hawkins series (Behind the Lens, Double Exposure, Rule of Thirds, and the concluding novella Depth of Field) along with her newest book The Women Who Stand Between all combine her sensibilities as a photojournalist with her storytelling. These award-winning novels are some of my favorites. Please check out the book descriptions below if you haven’t yet had the joy of reading these!

Let’s step off the page and begin!

LEARN MORE ABOUT JEANNEE’S BOOKS:

From book one, Behind the Lens:

Eight years ago, seasoned photojournalist Annie Hawkins Green barely survived a Taliban ambush that left her military escort dead and a young Afghan girl dying in her arms. Since then, she has managed to suppress her memories of that brutal day-until she returns to Afghanistan to teach a photography workshop at the secondary school for girls run by her expat best friend Darya Faludi. As the Taliban gain prominence in the once peaceful region, Annie’s nightmares from her last time in-country come roaring back with a vengeance. But are they just dreams? The unshakeable feeling of a grim, watchful presence makes Annie think otherwise.

As Annie struggles with her nightmares, more trouble brews with the suspicion that Darya’s teenage daughter is sneaking away at night to meet her shadowy boyfriend. Meanwhile, Annie’s own daughter wages war with her father and stepmother back home, feeding Annie’s all-consuming mom-guilt. Her only comfort, a poetry-writing U.S. Naval officer who saved her life all those years ago, is now at the other end of a satellite phone 7,000 miles away. How can he possibly keep her safe?

How can anyone?

About the book . . .

Julia Wilde is one of the best wildlife cinematographers in the business. But while on location in southern Africa, she finds herself unfairly blamed for an accident that leaves several crew members dead. Blacklisted by the movie industry, she takes a job in the film department at a Midwestern university only to discover that tenure depends on her making a movie.

With a small crew of talented filmmaking friends in tow, Julia heads back to Zimbabwe to make a documentary about the Mambas, a fierce all-female anti-poaching unit who risk their lives every day to protect endangered species.

But as Julia soon learns, being behind the lens is no protection from poachers who will do whatever it takes to protect their business and keep this movie from seeing the light of day.

For as long as I can remember, I have loved stories—reading, writing, and telling them. My best friend and I competed against each other to see who could read the most books in our library’s summer reading program. At sleep-away camp, the other kids parked their sleeping bags as close to mine as possible, all the better to hear my ghost stories. In fourth grade, my class voted to forego recess so I could read them a story I’d written. My decision to major in comparative literature in college was a natural choice. How better to be able to read novels all the time and get credit for it! After earning a doctorate and teaching English and French, I ultimately resigned my tenure and left academia to pursue photojournalism and creative writing. For the last twenty years, camera in hand, I’ve traveled the world, documenting the lives of women and children through images and words. And that has led to my writing my first novel. LEARN MORE AT: JeanneeSacken.com