Bio
Daughter of an immigrant Jewish mother from the foothills of the Himalayas and a South Bronx born Puerto Rican Jewish father, Jessica Ursell is a veteran JAG officer of the United States Air Force, poet, and ardent advocate and public speaker against antisemitism, racism, and bigotry. The granddaughter of survivors of the Holocaust, Soviet gulags, and a descendant of a Taíno great-grandma, she understands in her bones what happens when intolerance, indifference, and ignorance take root in society.
Raised by scientist parents, Jessica’s early environment was steeped in an atmosphere where questions were welcomed and asking “why not” was encouraged. Jessica lives with her husband in Southern Italy where she writes essays and poetry addressing the complex interplay between trauma, power, love, loss, and madness.
Her essays, At the Country Club with Superman, and Standing Up for the Voiceless: My Fight with Royalty in Anne Frank’s House, were published by The Jewish Writing Project in July 2022, and October 2022, respectively. Her next essay for TJWP will be released on 8 January 2024.
Jessica’s poem, Sedimented Rock, was selected by Beate Sigriddaughter (former poet laureate of Silver City, New Mexico) for publication in Writing In A Woman’s Voice released on 18 November 2023.
