Jennie Helderman was born into a story-telling family in north Alabama too long ago and she’ll never have time to write all the stories swimming in her head, like when her cousin died and his wife had the Mrs. and the burial policy but the one-legged woman had the body. Or about driving her mother and a coconut cake to the family reunion in a cow pasture in south Alabama.
Following the Sandy Hook tragedy, Jennie interviewed Kaitlin Roig, the first grade teacher who hid her 15 children in a bathroom for an alumnae magazine, the only print interview Kaitlin granted. The article took first place among features/profiles for alumni magazines in the U.S.
As the Sycamore Grows, a narrative nonfiction (2010) won six literary awards, was voted Nonfiction Book of the Year by the 550 Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs. The story of Ginger, who was held in a cabin in the woods without a phone or electricity, and escaped to become a spokeswoman for domestic violence victims; and of Mike, who abused Ginger, held no remorse, and vowed he'd do it all again. A good read that is inspirational, the book is also a teaching tool for family violence programs, womens' studies, prison programs. The Georgia Public Radio read it to the blind and handicapped. Jennie has placed copies in all the women's shelters in Georgia and Alabama.
In the summer of 2013 Jennie wrote Family Matters, a limited edition history of the Markwalter and Sheehan families of Augusta, Georgia.
Jennie seldom speaks in few words, but she wrote a flash fiction story for flashquake which was nominated for the 2007 Pushcart Prize in fiction. Bridget, a short story, appears in Nightbird Singing in the Dead of Night, an anthology of short stories published in September, 2009. Previously Bridget was one of three finalists for the Gival Press Award.
Jennie co-authored Christmas Trivia and Hanukkah Trivia with Mary Caulkins in the late 1990s, and has now rewritten and reissued them.
She writes profiles and features for magazines. She’s chaired the editorial board of The Key, the 150,000 circulation alumnae magazine of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity and worked as Arts and Alumnae Editor. She tells a story of life-saving heroism in Iraq by a KKG flight surgeon in the Fall 2009 issue.
While working with Inc. magazine's 5000 project in 2007 and 2008, she interviewed the CEOs of the fastest growing businesses in the U.S., such as the man who built the underwater robot that explored the Titanic; and a pistol-packing woman whose sales staff shoot up junk cars at company picnics.
Jennie lives in Atlanta, near her three grandchildren. She plays Scrabble online, collects folk art, and travels.
