Jerome Tiller

Ever since 2014, Jerome Tiller has been adapting classic stories for middle-school readers. His skill at adapting stories was quickly recognized by VOYA Magazine when two early books in the Adapted Classics collection (which is an imprint for his publishing company ArtWrite Productions) were designated Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers. But it was much earlier still that Jerome first demonstrated his ability at adaptation. In 2004 he deftly plagiarized his son Paul's middle-school science term paper and turned it into a book entitled “Sammy's Day at the Fair: The Digestive System featuring Gut Feelings and Reactions”. Paul's paper was so impressive that his science teacher said it should be a book, which Jerome made happen three years after it was graded, but not until he had extensively modified the text and added much new material (by the way, Paul was not disturbed or surprised by his father's thievery. In fact, he cooperated all the way by creating new illustrations to add to those he had used for his term paper).

Once “Sammy's Day at the Fair” was completed, a group of award-winning teachers from around the nation praised and endorsed advance review copies of the book. Nevertheless, the published product was not commercially successful. Truth is, it was a total flop. Disconsolate, Jerome eventually put it to rest. But then in late summer 2018, after he had gained some publishing experience with his Adapted Classics imprint, Jerome gave it a second chance. He published a second, slightly revised and updated edition of “Sammy's Day at the Fair”. Critically it's a greater success than the first – it is loved as much by the same award-wining teachers, plus loved anew by book-award judges for the Midwest Independent Publishers Association. In May 2019, “Sammy's Day at the Fair” was named a finalist for a Children's Fiction award, and WINNER of the Children's Non-Fiction award (Oh, really! How does that happen??). Now will things change commercially? Who knows.

Paul came off the bench to add new illustrations to the second edition of “Sammy's Day at the Fair”, but his main role now is helping his father with two websites, artwriteproductions.com and adaptedclassics.com. Jerome's primary focus since 2014 and during the revision, publication, and promotion of the second 'Sammy' has been collaborating with master pen & ink illustrator Marc Johnson-Pencook to adapt classic stories for middle-school readers. They believe that modernizing and illustrating short stories by authors like Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, and Nathaniel Hawthorne is the best way to introduce classic literature to many young readers who are either unmotivated or unready to tackle the bare text presentations and complex prose styles found in most longer classic books.

Besides writing, adapting, and publishing, Jerome has been heavily engaged in social justice activities at his parish church, both long before and ever since his retirement in 2014 from the United States Postal Service. He worked there first as a rural carrier, then took positions as a rural delivery analyst, tort claims processor and labor relations specialist.

Besides son Paul and his steady Dominika, Jerome has daughter Claire, her husband Chris, and their young son Aaron Oliver to love. But first and foremost, for 37 years and forevermore, he loves wife Anna Claire, a potter who designs and creates the artistic, functional pottery merchandised at annaclairepottery.com.