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Fabulous interview today on  Joy Radio with Jaqueline St. Joan, author of MY SISTERS MADE OF LIGHT. St. Joan sheds light on why she wrote the book; discusses honor crimes against women that took place during Pakistan’s human rights movement, 1957-1994; reveals how she wrote her story from the point of view of a Pakistani, even though it was a place she never visited; and much more.

MY SISTERS MADE OF LIGHT would be a wonderful addition to libraries and a fantastic read  for book clubs. St. Joan even includes a list of discussion questions  on her website. Half of the proceeds from the sale of the book go towards the construction of a safe shelter in Pakistan for women and children escaping abuse and you can also make a personal donation by emailing Jaqueline – jackie@mysistersmadeoflight.com.

Jaqueline’s bio is listed below.

While both exploring and at times avoiding her calling as a writer, Jaqueline St. Joan worked as a secretary, a teacher, a cab driver, a lawyer, judge, and law professor.  A single mother who came of age in the 1960s during the “second wave” of feminism, advocacy for domestic violence reforms has been core to her professional career and her life in general.  This book was the result of being introduced to a Pakistani teacher in 2002 who told her about her own efforts to help first, her student, and then other women escape from honor crimes.

Her first book was an anthology co-edited with an English professor, Beyond Portia:  Women, Law and Literature in the United States, published in 1997.  Her poetry and nonfiction have appeared in a variety of publications, including  Ms., The Denver Quarterly, Harvard Women’s Law Journal, Empire Magazine, The Denver Post, and Thinking Women, Chrysalis.
 
St. Joan’s work has been awarded prizes from Colorado Council on the Humanities, Rocky Mountain Women’s Institute, Chrysalis Reader, Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association, University of Colorado, and the Denver Press Club, among others.

She teaches part-time at Metropolitan State College of Denver and lives in Denver where she tries to spend as much time as she can with her three grandchildren.