Helene Simkin Jara is an award-winning author, actor, director and teacher. Her poems, stories, and plays have been published over 32 times, and have won various awards.

In July 2022, Helene published her fourth book, Life On The Stand, a memoir of her time working as an artist’s model. Her third book, Turn Left at the Gorilla and Turn Down the Hall: and Other Stories, is a collection of short stories that runs the gamut from humor to tragedy, taking the reader on a ride within the human and sometimes not so human experience. Her self-published first book Because I Had To was on Kindle’s best-seller list in July 2014. She followed this success with her second book, True Doll Stories We Remember, an anthology of personal accounts of experiences with dolls. Her fifth book, another collection of short stories, is coming soon!

Helene is an active member of the Bay Area theatre scene. In September 2020, Helene was featured in SidexSide, a Zoomed play reading of three short plays by Jory Post, presented by 36 North Playwright’s Collective. She is also a frequent collaborator with Santa Cruz Actors Theatre, and directed ta new play, Ditmas, for the 2022 8 Tens at 8 Festival.

To stay up to date on Helene’s latest projects, be sure to follow her on Facebook and Twitter. To get in contact with Helene, click here!