It’s been quite the year for Dr. Kelly Ann Jacobson. After publishing the queer young adult novel “Robin and her Misfits” in April, the University of Lynchburg English professor is already collecting praise for her literary sci-fi novel “Weaver,” which dropped on Oct. 17.
Many years in the making, “Weaver” is Jacobson’s dissertation about a group of aliens who lose their home and are mistreated by humans. The story is told in fragments, using multiple perspectives and in-world historical documents collected after authorities have decided who is getting Earth.
“I’m most proud of the fact that the book is both literary fiction and speculative fiction,” Jacobson said. “People often think that ‘literary fiction’ means ‘well-written fiction,’ but actually, ‘literary fiction’ is a genre of writing, just like science fiction or fantasy.
“This book fits both of those categories due to the experimentation in form, since every chapter is in a different form and from a different perspective, as well as the writing style and subversion of tropes. … Still, despite being very literary, ‘Weaver’ still has my signature amount of action-packed plotting: Aliens! Dystopia on Earth! War!”
Jacobson garnered a lot of attention for her queer YA novels that reimagine classic stories — including the award-winning “Tink and Wendy” (2021), which reinvents the Peter Pan story — but she actually started her career as a literary writer.
After graduate school, she published her first novel, “Cairo in White” (2014), followed by the poetry collection “I Have Conversations with You in My Dreams” (2016). Her chapbook “An Inventory of Abandoned Things” won the 2020 Split/Lip Press Fiction Chapbook Contest.
“In some ways, ‘Weaver’ feels more like a returning than a diverting, if that makes sense,” said Jacobson, who started working on the novel while earning her PhD in creative writing at Florida State University.
“The audience is definitely an adult audience — the [different] forms make the book a more challenging read.”
The use of many “different linked perspectives in a surprising order rather than a traditional, chronological, single perspective” make the book true to her style, said Jacobson, who considers herself “more of a short story writer than a novelist.”
Overall, she’s “proud to have pushed the envelope for what it means to write ‘academic fiction.’”
Working through “Weaver” also taught her a lot about point of view. “I did an independent study with Professor Ravi Howard just on the use of first person plural, which helped me practice intentional POV choices a lot,” she said.
Jacobson will talk more about point of view in a faculty research presentation at noon on Monday, Feb. 19, at Lynchburg.
Jacobson teaches creative writing at Lynchburg, for Southern New Hampshire University’s online MFA, and for Johns Hopkins University’s MA in writing. Her short works have been published by Best Small Fictions, Boulevard, Southern Humanities Review, Daily Science Fiction, and Gargoyle.
At Lynchburg, Jacobson is active in Q, the campus queer affinity group, and as an advisor for the student literary publication The Prism. She’s also starring in the University’s 2023 holiday film, “The Grand Hopwood Hall,” which premieres in December.
Read more about Jacobson’s YA novels and her unique approach to writing and teaching.
