Memoirist. Feminist. Advocate.
For decades, Jacqueline St. Joan worked at the intersection of law, activism, and personal conviction. Her life has moved through courtrooms, feminist organizing, motherhood, an interracial marriage that reshaped family ties, and questions of identity, justice, and belonging.
Her upcoming memoir, Your Verdict: A Judge’s Reckoning with Law and Loss, traces those experiences with honesty and complexity, asking what it costs to live by our principles—and who ultimately renders the final verdict on a life.
AS SEEN IN:
The latest:
Your Verdict was featured in Literary Hub, one of the nation's leading literary publications. Read the excerpt, "Between Verdict and Voice: From Judge to Writer."
Upcoming Events
-
Book Party, Hosted by Mary Simon (Private)
July 17
Denver -
Reading, Signing, and Conversation with Novelist Jeanne Winer
July 22
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Old Firehouse Books, Fort Collins
MORE INFO HERE -
Cobalt Book Club (Private)
August 4
Littleton -
Reading and Signing
August 22
2:00 pm
The Bookies Book Store, 2085 S Holly St, Denver -
Book Reading and Memoir Workshop
August 26
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Active Adult Center, 6363 W. 25th Ave., Wheat Ridge -
Reading Stories Luncheon
August 27
10:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame, Temple Emanuel, 51 Grape St., Denver
Books for Sale
-
![]()
Your Verdict: A Judge's Reckoning with Law and Loss
Your Verdict: A Judge’s Reckoning With Law and Loss is Jacqueline St. Joan’s deeply personal examination of judgment: rendered from the bench, delivered within families, and ultimately reclaimed through a lifetime of reflection. Available for purchase here.
-
![The Shawl of Midnight]()
The Shawl of Midnight
Nafeesa grows up knowing almost nothing about the women in her family, whose lives have been marked by imprisonment, exile, violence, and loss. Guided by her dying grandfather's final request, she journeys from Pakistan to Mumbai and Kashmir to uncover her family's hidden history, discovering difficult truths about identity, family, and what it means to find home. Available for purchase here.
-
![My Sisters Made of Light]()
My Sisters Made of Light
My Sisters Made of Light follows three generations of a Pakistani family navigating the political, social, and religious complexities of their homeland. Through Ujala's story, the novel explores the devastating impact of honor-based violence against women and her determination to help others escape it, despite the risks to her own safety. Available for purchase here.
Law, Literature & Voices of Protest & Reconciliation
-
Her first novel, My Sisters Made of Light(Press 53) was a finalist for the 2010 Colorado Book Award in Literary Fiction, and was a book of the month selection for the American Association of University Women. Through sales and donations, she raised $25,000 for the creation of a shelter for women and children in Punjab, Pakistan. The sequel novel, The Shawl of Midnight, also set inside the women’s movement in South Asia, was published by Golden Antelope Press in 2022.
Her short history fiction story, “Crossroads at Guntown,” will be published in Spring 2026 issue of Valley Voices, a literary review of the HBCU, Mississippi Valley State University; “Summer of Love,” memoir excerpt, Northern Colorado Writers Anthology, Spring 2023, and "Mississippi Goddam"Valley Voices, in its special issue “A Sense of Place,” Spring 2022. The online short story, “If It’s True, It Must Also Be Beautiful,” in The Missouri Review, was nominated for Best of the Net and flash fiction, "The Home Visit" The Ravens Perch June 2022. She won the Black Sheep award from the Colorado Genealogical Society for her family fiction story, “Cough Drop Joe,”
-
Her book of poems, What Remains, was published by Turkey Buzzard Press ins 2016. Among her poetry awards: Denver Press Club, Colorado Council on the Arts fellowship; William Battrick Award in Poetry at University of Colorado; fellowship with Rocky Mountain Women’s Institute, and writer in residence at Wildacres, North Carolina. Her poetry has been published in periodicals such as (most recently, New York Quarterly) Ms., The Denver Quarterly, SageGreen Journal, Montelibre and Colorado Women News. Until its closure in 2020, she was the News Poetry Editor for The Colorado Independent.
-
Her nonfiction ranges from memoir to op-eds to legal scholarship, book reviews, travel writing, social justice essays and rants. She recently reviewed the poetry anthology, The Four Faces of Eve, www.compulsivereader.com, “Dismantling White Supremacy: The Importance of History and the Role of Neighbors,”www.renameforall.com, 2020, Thinking About How to Think About Renaming Stapleton, " www.renameforall.com, 2018.Several pieces have won awards, for example, “Meeting the Dalai Lama in Tibet,” Silver, Women’s Solas Travel Writing Award and the 1996 Rocky Mountain MLA Award for Best Feminist Essay. She has published in the Harvard Women's Law Journal, Empire Magazine, and others.
-
She co-edited (with Annette Bennington McIlhiney) the anthology, Beyond Portia: Women, Law & Literature in the U.S. (Northeastern UP) and her writings have appeared in numerous anthologies, such as The Quotable Woman, Tumblewords: Writers Reading the West;Disturbing the Peace:Writings by Colorado Attorneys, Chokecherries Anthology, Kaleidoscope: Lenses on Reality, The Legal Studies Forum, and Fungi Anthology, and Thinking Women:Introduction to Women's Studies, Poems from the Back Forty, Mycoepithalamia: Mushroom Wedding Poems.
Browse her writings by theme:
Women & The Law
Violence against women, feminism.
History & The West
The American West, cities & families.
Racial Justice
Racism, injustice
Dharma & South Asia
Buddhism, liminal spaces, spirituals.
Culture & Nature
Canada geese, gardens, summer.
Family & Children
Mothers, bravery & loss.