Jeri Parker

Jeri Parker grew up scrambling along riverbanks and forest paths at her grandparents' sawmill near West Yellowstone. Her days there were spent spinning logs on the millpond and fly fishing at Henry's Fork. If it rained, she and her twin sister and cousins went to the cookhouse and made up stories about their future.

Jeri never lost the habit of telling stories. They are now as likely to deal with the past as the future. Her recently published memoir, A THOUSAND VOICES, is a compelling account of the friendship between Jeri and Carlos--the wild, beautiful, deaf boy she taught as he struggled to find a place in the world. It is a song of love and grief and a profound meditation on the limits--and limitlessness--of human language.

For many years Jeri stayed in the mountains until winter when she returned to her home in Utah to teach high school and university students. It was in working with these students--particularly Carlos--that she began to understand what language is and what the intricate steps of acquiring and refining it involve.

A THOUSAND VOICES has struck a chord with readers. Included in BlueInk Reviews' BEST BOOKS OF 2013, reviewers from Kirkus and the Deseret News to Amazon and Goodreads have praised the mastery, the poignancy, and the poetry of Jeri's writing. The Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association recently honored the book by nominating it for a Writing the West award.

Jeri was recently featured in an interview/profile in KIRKUS MAGAZINE, March 20, 2014. The link is https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/jeri-parker/#continue_reading_post. It is also listed on this profile page.

Other publications by Jeri include UNEASY SURVIVORS: FIVE WOMEN WRITERS as well as short stories and poems in literary journals. She has recently completed a novel, UNMOORED. An artist as well as writer, her paintings hang in public and private collections in London, Paris, Athens, Istanbul, Frankfurt, and Sydney as well as half the states.

Jeri is presently co-owner of Wildflowers Bed and Breakfast in Salt Lake City where she has the opportunity to mix with people in all walks of life from all over the world. Her own domain is presided over by numerous animals and chickens.