Jennifer Niven | Author

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Jennifer Niven
Writer of nonfiction, memoir, and historical fiction

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Hometown Book Release Party (with reading and signing)

Sep.28.2011

Hometown Book Release Party (with reading and signing)

Join Jennifer in the town she grew up in, Richmond, Indiana, for a celebration of her latest book, Velva Jean Learns to Fly. There will be talking, reading, signing, and refreshments!

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PUBLISHED: Aug.30.2011

Velva Jean Learns to Fly

Velva Jean Hart, the fiercely independent heroine of Jennifer Niven's debut novel, Velva Jean Learns to Drive, returns in a captivating adventure that literally sends her soaring. Bridling under the limitations faced by a woman in rural Appalachia and fueled by the memory of her late Mama telling her to "live out there," Velva Jean hits the road to pursue her dream of singing...

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PUBLISHED: Sep.25.2012

Becoming Clementine: A Novel

Summer 1944. Paris. A secret mission. A dangerous passion. A spellbinding story you will never forget. After delivering a B-17 Flying Fortress to Britain, an American volunteers to copilot a plane carrying special agents to their drop spot over Normandy. Her personal mission: to find her brother, who is missing in action. Their plane is shot down, and only she and five...

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PUBLISHED: Feb.09.2010

The Aqua Net Diaries: Big Hair, Big Dreams, Small Town

Jennifer Niven tackles her most harrowing expedition of all: high school. Her first two books, The Ice Master and Ada Blackjack, relayed the tales of deadly and dramatic Arctic adventures, but now she tells a survival tale of a different kind--her own thrilling, excruciating, and utterly unforgettable adventure in a midwestern high school during the 1980s.

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PUBLISHED: Jul.28.2009

Velva Jean Learns to Drive

Set in Appalachia in the years before World War II, Velva Jean Learns to Drive is a poignant story of a spirited young girl growing up in the gold-mining and moonshining South. One Sunday when she is ten years old, Velva Jean Hart is saved. Life soon brings unwelcome changes: her loving mother dies, and her father leaves on one of his "adventures." While Velva Jean's bossy...

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PUBLISHED: Nov.03.2004

Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic

In September 1923, a diminutive twenty-five-year-old Eskimo woman named Ada Blackjack emerged as the lone survivor of an ambitious polar expedition. She was a young and unskilled woman who headed into the Arctic in search of money and a husband. What she found instead was a nightmare rivaling even the most horrific folktales she had grown up hearing from the...

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PUBLISHED: Nov.01.2000

The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk

In June 1913, the H.M.C.S. Karluk set sail from Victoria, British Columbia. Six weeks later, the Arctic winter had begun, the ship was imprisoned in ice, and those on board had been abandoned by their leader. For five months, the Karluk remained frozen in a massive block of ice, drifting farther off course. In January 1914, the ice tore a hole in the vessel's hull, and the...

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Jennifer's Latest Blogs

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Sep.03.2012 - 10:05 pm

A library gift shop. I have gone to heaven.

My recurring fantasy about libraries is that at night, after everyone goes home, , the books come to life and mingle in a fabulous cocktail party. — Neal Wyatt A perfect...

Jul.02.2012 - 9:08 am

Titles and Book Covers

Titles change and so do book covers. For a long time, I’d been calling Velva Jean’s third adventure Velva Jean Learns to Spy. But that book (to be released September 25) is now...

Apr.24.2012 - 9:08 am

The Advance Reading Copy

One of the strangest times in a writer’s life is when the ARCs go out into the world to seek early praise and attention. The “ARC” is book world shorthand for “Advance Reading...

Apr.09.2012 - 10:26 am

On Tact: The Importance of Magnolia Sh*#

“Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy.” — Isaac Newton I am a southern girl at heart. I was raised by southerners– a southern mother, a southern daddy,...

Comments from Jennifer

Feb.11.2012 - 7:48 pm

In response to: Ten Good Things About Working (Really) Hard

Thank you, Dolores!

Your words are MUCH appreciated! It's wonderful to know there's someone out there who gets it. :) ...

Jan.16.2012 - 11:40 pm

In response to: Behind the Book -- How to Quilt a Story

quilting

Like you, I often have to turn off both phone and email. And it does work! Congratulations on the quilt! I'...

Dec.25.2011 - 10:43 pm

In response to: Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny

Happy Holidays to you!

I wish I still had that Kitty Karryall, Jennifer, because I would wrap it up and send it to you right now. :)...

Dec.22.2011 - 12:40 am

In response to: Behind the Book -- Letting the Manuscript Go

Thank you!

Thanks for the congrats! I'm glad you're enjoying the sharing of the process. As I'm going along with the...

Nov.16.2011 - 11:05 pm

In response to: A Veterans Day Letter from 1944

You are so right, Annette,

You are so right, Annette, that the best stories are the ones we tell about our families. I'm noticing that these...

Writing

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Article: The Female Robinson Crusoe: Who Was Ada Blackjack?

Published Reviews

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Sep.23.2011

Velva Jean Learns to Fly

Published by Library Journal

Fans of Velva Jean Learns To Drive, Niven's fictional debut, will welcome back the high-octane Velva Jean as she flees from her husband and North Carolina mountain home for...

Audio & Video

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Video: Becoming Clementine -- book trailer

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Video: What it (Sometimes) Looks Like to Write a Book

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Video: 1940's Los Angeles

Follow Jennifer’s tweets

@tinpanalleypics Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it! :) — 1 day 4 hours ago

Niven makes some memorable moonspun magic in her rich fiction debut. It's a touching read, funny and wise, like a crazy blend of Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, a less morose Flannery O'Connor and maybe a shot of Hank Williams.”

—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

About Jennifer

Jennifer Niven lives in Los Angeles (where her film Velva Jean Learns to Drive won an Emmy Award and she once played the part of Shania Twain in a music video). Even though she's always wanted to be a Charlie's Angel, her true passion is writing, and her...

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Connections

Causes Jennifer Niven Supports

Fur Kids

PETA

Alley Cat Allies

The American Cancer Society

Write Girl

Jennifer’s Favorite Books

To Kill a Mockingbird, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, In Cold Blood, A Good Man is Hard to Find

Jennifer NivenWriter of nonfiction, memoir, and historical fiction

Latest News & Events

Hometown Book Release Party (with reading and signing)

Featured Works

Jennifer's Latest Blogs

Comments from Jennifer

Writing

Published Reviews

Audio & Video

Follow Jennifer’s tweets

About Jennifer

Connections

Causes Jennifer Niven Supports

Jennifer’s Favorite Books

Jennifer Niven
Writer of nonfiction, memoir, and historical fiction