Jeffery Boatright

From his earliest days, Jeffry Boatright was a story teller.  Spinning elaborate yarns sometimes prevented his mischief from becoming mayhem.  And sometimes his stories turned mischief into mayhem.  As he grew and listened to his family tell colorful stories about generations past, he became interested in writing these stories down, not just to preserve his family's memories, but to preserve the Florida traditions he had come to love so well.  His northern Florida roots run six generations deep, and his passion for writing and telling stories runs through him like the dark brown waters of the Suwannee River.  He happily shares this passion with his readers.

Most of Jeff's work is fiction based on historical facts.  His characters are often clever mixtures of real people he has known or heard about.  His stories, which take place primarily in the 1940's, are marked with his own quiet, subtle brand of humor, family drama, and intrigue. His settings are pure northern Florida:  southern live oak trees, Spanish moss, waving palmettos, and beautiful farm land are a part of his world, as well as the worlds of his characters.  Home cooked meals, often meticulously described in detail, sometimes take on their own character in his stories.

Jeffry loves to write, but he also loves to teach about writing and talk about writing.  Some of his greatest joys have come from teaching writers' workshops and appearing as guest speaker at local community organizations and functions.  These give him the opportunity to not only talk about his work, but to also talk about his beloved home, northern Florida.

He rarely ventures far from home and family, but occasionally enjoys a road trip on his Harley Davidson Sportster.  When he is not farming, he is busy writing.  Jeff is an active member of Beulah Baptist Church in Live Oak.