Jacobs, Kate 1973-

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Jacobs, Kate 1973-

PERSONAL:

Born 1973, in Hope, British Columbia, Canada; married. Education: Carlton University, Ottawa, Canada, B.A.; New York University, M.A. Hobbies and other interests: Knitting.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Southern California; New York, NY. Agent—Barbara Zitwer, Barbara J. Zitwer Agency, 25 West End Ave., Ste. 11H, New York, NY 10024.

CAREER:

Freelance writer. Worked variously at Redbook, New York, NY, assistant to the Books & Fiction editor; Working Woman, New York, NY, editor; Family Life, New York, NY, editor; Lifetime television, New York, NY, Web site editor.

WRITINGS:

The Friday Night Knitting Club (novel), Putnam (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to periodicals, including Redbook, Working Woman, and Family Life.

ADAPTATIONS:

A film version of The Friday Night Knitting Club is in production.

SIDELIGHTS:

Writer and editor Kate Jacobs was born and raised in the British Columbia area of Canada, in a town called Hope. After attending boarding school in Victoria and Carleton University in Ottawa, Jacobs made the move to New York City to pursue her career. She earned a master's degree from New York University and worked for a time as an intern before starting her first job as an assistant to the Books & Fiction editor at Redbook magazine. She credits that job, in which she read numerous submissions from writers, for honing her focus on writing that addresses women's issues and interests. She continued her interest in women's stories through her next jobs, working as an editor first at Working Woman and Family Life, and later as a writer and editor for the Web site at Lifetime Television. After moving to Southern California with her husband, Jacobs turned her attention to writing fiction of her own, in the form of her first novel, The Friday Night Knitting Club. The book tells the story of Georgia Walker, a single mother of a twelve-year-old girl and the owner of a yarn shop in Manhattan. Georgia leans on her coworkers and the women in her Friday night knitting club to help her get through the ups and downs of life. In a contribution for Kirkus Reviews, one writer remarked: "The female cast is likeable, but Jacobs pushes hard the idea of knitting as a metaphor for life." A reviewer for Publishers Weekly commented that "poignant twists propel the plot and help the pacing find a pleasant rhythm."