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12 x 12 Contributor

Jess Townes

Jess Townes is a picture book author and bookseller. A lifelong storyteller, Jess has worked in public education, non-profit development, birth and lactation services, as a freelance writer, an actress, and currently works as a bookseller at Main Street Books in St. Charles, Missouri, but her favorite part of any job is the connections she builds with other people. She believes that there is no better path to those connections than through our stories. Jess lives outside St. Louis with her husband, two teenagers, two cats and a fifty-pound lap dog. 

Jess is represented by Stephanie Fretwell-Hill of Red Fox Literary Agency.

My Books
Spellbound (Union Square Kids, 2022) Groundhog Gets It Wrong (Dial, 2023) Sometimes I Cry (FSG, 2023)

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Interested in Joining the 12x12 Challenge?

Financial Need Scholarship Guidelines

All applications will be accepted via email only between November 1, 2023 – November 30, 2023 at kelli@juliehedlund.com.

Subject line of the email:

  1. 12 x 12 Financial Need Scholarship
 

Please include the following in the body of the email:

  1. An autobiographical statement and career summary in 250 words or fewer.
  2. A short statement describing the nature of the financial need/circumstances in 250 words or fewer.
  3. A sample query letter for the manuscript you are submitting with your application.
  4. Pitches for two additional completed picture books.
 

 Attached to the email:

  1.  The full text of one picture book manuscript, attached as a Word document named as FIN_YourFirstName_YourLastName_Title_of_Manuscript.doc (or docx).