Lori Jakiela


Lori Jakiela is an American author of memoirs and poetry. She won Stanford University's William Saroyan International Prize for Writing for non-fiction for her third memoir, Belief Is Its Own Kind of Truth Maybe, in 2016.

Education and career

Jakiela was raised in Trafford, Pennsylvania and attended Gannon University.
She is a professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, and has also taught at Chatham University and served as co-director of the Chautauqua Institution's Summer Writers Festival.

Recognition

Jakiela won Stanford University's William Saroyan International Prize for Writing for non-fiction for her third memoir, Belief Is Its Own Kind of Truth Maybe, in 2016. She was awarded a City of Asylum residency in Belgium in 2015.
She has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

Personal life

Jakiela has worked as a flight attendant and as a freelance journalist, including The New York Times. the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Washington Post. She is married to novelist Dave Newman.

Selected works

Memoir

They Write Your Name on a Grain of Rice: On Cancer, Love and Living Even So Belief Is Its Own Kind of Truth, Maybe

Essays

Poetry

How Do You Like It Now, Gentlemen? Poems at Mid-Life
  • Spot the Terrorist The Regulars Red Eye The Mill Hunk's Daughter Meets the Queen of Sky
  • ''Big Fish''