Events & Programs

The backdrop of her new novel Moonlight in Odessa (Bloomsbury) is the booming business of e-mail order brides, an industry where love and marriage meet sex and money. While at the University of Montana, Janet Skeslien Charles translated letters from desperate Russian women to lonely American men. She also interpreted for Russian women married to Americans. After finishing her degree in English literature, she spent two years in Odessa, Ukraine, as a Soros Fellow. During this time, she spoke with Western men who went to socials. She also met women who found husbands through international matchmaking organizations. The interviews with these men and women before and after the wedding make up the framework of her novel.

We will talk about how to take a subject that fascinates you as a writer and transform it into a subject that will fascinate your reader, whether through fiction or nonfiction. We will also talk about the process of writing and research.

About Janet Skeslien Charles

Originally from Montana, Janet Skeslien Charles has lived in Paris since 1999. She has led writing workshops at the American Library, WICE, and Shakespeare and Company.

Learn more about the author and Moonlight in Odessa on her website.