Pass-Through Place
“Woven from her love of place and moments in her lifetime—both unassuming and notable—writer Jenna Brack invites us to pay tender attention to our life at hand, and to the softly worn discovery that ‘a place like Kansas rewards the quiet search.’ Like a friend sitting with us at our kitchen table, Jenna's writing lovingly invites us to see wherever we are with great care. A heartbreaking, sentient, deeply moving collection of essays.”
—Amy Messenger, songwriter and poet
“Jenna Brack’s Pass-Through Place is an essay collection that is best read slowly. Her light touch with words and her clean writing mirrors the unassuming plains and the openness of sky. But like the subtle beauty of Kansas, there’s a depth to this work that settles in with the reader long after the back cover is closed.”
—Cheryl Unruh, author of Gravedigger’s Daughter: Vignettes from a Small Kansas Town
Essays on home, hope, and following the horizon
by Jenna Brack
Coming in April 2026 from Meadowlark Press
Ride along with Jenna Brack as she explores the vast and varied Kansas landscape, a place some consider flat and uninteresting. In this collection of personal essays that unfold as a coming-of-age memoir, Brack reveals how the land and people of Kansas have been catalysts for growth, healing, and identity. As Brack passes through wheat fields, historic ice storms, or the sprawling Flint Hills, she also travels through her own inner landscape of longing and loss.
Together, these essays spotlight Kansas as much more than a pass-through place, and instead as a formative place of resilience and hope. Brack’s storytelling invites us to consider how our own pass-through places are infused with meaning—even how they might carry us home.
About The Book
About the Author
Jenna Brack is the author of Pass-Through Place (Meadowlark Press, 2026), a collection of essays shaped by growing up in central Kansas. Her essays and poetry have been featured in Every Day Poems, Coffee + Crumbs, Fathom, The Sunlight Press, and others. A former educator and college instructor, Jenna now encourages other writers through editing and coaching. She holds an MA in English from Kansas State University and currently lives with her family in Germany.
Jenna is open to conversations on topics such as:
Kansas and/or the Midwest
Travel + place writing
Writing process or creative practice
Motherhood storytelling
Faith + art
Please contact her to inquire.
