WiDo Publishing™ Acquires Debut Novel by Award-winning Author Angela Jackson-Brown

SALT LAKE CITY, UT April 1, 2013

1978. The year I turned ten and the year my mama killed herself. She was thirty-five, and dying is the last thing that should have been on her mind.

These are the words that begin the novel by Angela Jackson-Brown, a story about Sylvia Butler–a feisty, determined, young girl who, in spite of the grown-up situations she must deal with, still maintains a sense of innocence and hopefulness. Young Sylvia shows readers that although there may not be a happily ever after, there can be happy right now.

“Angela has an amazing voice and the words jump right off the page into your heart,” says WiDo’s submission editor, Allie Maldonado. “I wasn’t far into her manuscript when I knew it was exactly the type of book we love to publish– literary, with a story you can’t put down and characters who seem so real they could be living next door.”

What is it that encouraged Angela Jackson-Brown, an English professor at Ball State University and award-winning author, to submit her novel to a small press in Salt Lake City? While extremely glad that she did, the folks at WiDo wondered about this and asked Jackson-Brown to elaborate. Her response:

“Every writer’s desire is to see her work published by a publisher who ‘gets’ her and values her work. From my very first encounter with WiDo’s Submission Editor, Allie Maldonado, I felt like my novel had found a loving, nurturing home. Everything Allie said to me was encouraging and she really made me feel like not only was my book at home, so was I. My main attraction to WiDo was based on what I read other WiDo authors say about it. I looked up every WiDo author, and each and every one of them gushed about how happy they were with the process from the day they were offered a contract to the day their book arrived in the mail. I also like that WiDo believes in editing a book with a careful eye. I love the novel that I wrote, and my desire is for my readers to love it too. WiDo’s attention to every detail, whether it is their devotion to making a great cover for the book or their careful copyediting, will ensure that my readers won’t be disappointed. For an author, there is no greater desire than that.”

WiDo Publishing is honored to welcome Angela Jackson-Brown on board and looks forward to the publication of her book in 2014. Maldonado states, “We are excited about the opportunity of bringing Sylvia’s story to light. It is occasionally difficult to read– the topic of sexual abuse is not an easy one to deal with– but Angela has  written with such grace and compassion and insight, that her book is truly a gift to readers.”

Angela Jackson-Brown is an English Professor at Ball State University in Muncie, IN. She graduated from Troy University in Troy, AL (B.S. in Business Administration); Auburn University in Auburn, AL (M.A. in English); and Spalding University in Louisville, KY (MFA in Creative Writing). Her work has appeared in literary journals, such as: Pet Milk, Uptown Mosaic Magazine, New Southerner Literary Magazine, The Louisville Review, Muscadine Lines: A Southern Journal, Blue Lake Review, and 94 Creations. Her short story, “Something in the Wash” was awarded the 2009 fiction prize by New Southerner Literary Magazine and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in Fiction. Her play, Wade in the Water, was professionally read at The University of Louisville in the summer of 2012. She is the mother of two sons, Justin and Michael, and the wife to Robert L. Brown. Read more about Angela at her website and blog: http://www.angelajacksonbrown.com