Jessica O’Dwyer is the author of Mother Mother (winner, San Diego Book Awards for general fiction; finalist, National Indie Excellence Awards) and Mamalita (winner, San Diego Book Awards for memoir; top five books by Adoptive Families). Her essays have been published in the New York Times, SF Chronicle,  and Scary Mommy. An alum of  Bread Loaf, Squaw Valley, and Sirenland, Jessica earned an MFA from Antioch.

Jessica has worked in the press offices of SFMOMA, the LA County Museum of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. She began her career in New York as a legal proofreader on the night shift and segued to the editorial staffs of several magazines. She has taught jazz dance and high school English.

Jessica is a vocal proponent of open adoption and lifelong connection to birth country and speaks on these subjects to anyone who will listen. She and her family travel to Guatemala for a month every summer to visit with her children’s birth families.

Jessica grew up at the Jersey shore, the daughter of a high school shop teacher and Radio City Music Hall Rockette. She lives in California.