Jessica Young has a degree from Northwestern University in Performance Studies, and an MFA in Fiction Writing from Columbia College Chicago. She's been published in Warpland, and Hair Trigger 29 and 30. Her fiction and nonfiction has won awards from the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation of Chicago and the Columbia University Scholastic Press Association. She's performed at the Mixed Roots Literary and Film Festival in Los Angeles, and was recently a contributing blogger for WBEZ's summer radio series, "Race Out Loud." She's also a company member with Chicago's live storytelling theatre company, 2nd Story. Jessica is a part-time faculty member at Columbia College, where she teaches in the Fiction Writing Department and The First Year Seminar.