Jacqueline Leigh
Jacqueline Leigh is an author of children’s books and poetry that primarily focus on Sierra Leone. Her short 2015 history of the founding and development of a Liberated African village (A History of St. Edward’s Church: Kent, Sierra Leone) led to the January 2016 debut of her historical novel for ages 12+, The Heritage Keeper. This novel appeared on the Reviewer’s Choice list at the Midwest Book Review’s Small Press Bookwatch a few months later, and has since been the focus of a middle school humanities novel study at the American International School of Freetown, in Sierra Leone. Her young adult nonfiction account of the historical context in which these 19th century events took place should appear soon.
Jackie and her Sierra Leonean husband, Sam, a consulting civil engineer, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in August, 2017, and live both in Michigan and Sierra Leone with their family. Since 1970, Jackie has been involved in ESL teaching, librarianship and school administration, and chaired accreditation teams visiting American schools in Abuja, Ouagadougou, Niamey and Banjul. Through her educational charity, the Sentinel English Language Institute, she trains and coaches rural teachers in Sierra Leone to run after school ESL process-writing clubs.
Learn more at Jacqueline Leigh’s official website
