Jessica Bell (author)
Jessica Bell (born 1981) is an Australian singer-songwriter, author, writing and publishing coach, and graphic designer. She has published a memoir, five novels, three poetry collections, and her bestselling series "Writing in a Nutshell". She has been featured in a variety of publications and ABC Radio National shows such as Writer's Digest, Publishers Weekly, The Music, Life Matters, and Poetica. She is also the Publisher of Vine Leaves Press, CEO of Independent Publishing Assistance, and a voice-over actor. In October 2016, she became the lead singer of the dream-pop group, Keep Shelly in  Athens. She also records and performs as a solo artist under the name BRUNO. and the singer and co-songwriter of Mongoa Biography. Bell was born in Melbourne, Australia. Her parents, Erika Bach and Demetri Vlass were the founders of two Australian indie rock bands, Ape the Cry and . In 1998, her high school band, String Bridge, made it to the state finals of the national battle-of-the-bands, run in conjunction with the Rock Eisteddfod. In 1999, 'String Bridge' became 'spAnk', and the band went on to win the Melbourne University National Campus Band Competition and third prize  in the state. They received radio airplay and gigs, including supports with Killing Heidi. In 2003, the band broke up when Bell moved to Greece. There she completed her Bachelor of Arts via Deakin University's correspondence program, and in 2005 landed her first job as an English Language Teaching book editor and writer for CENGAGE Learning (formerly New Editions) in Athens. Since then, Bell has worked in-house and as a freelancer for Pearson Education, Macmillan Education, Education First and Harper Collins ELT. Between 2005 and 2008, Bell regularly performed as a solo artist in Athens, Greece under her  own name, including supports with Oneida (2006) and Holly Golightly (2006, 2008). In 2008, Bell began to focus on her writing, and in 2011 her debut novel, String Bridge (Lucky Press LLC), was published. When Lucky Press liquidated in less than a year after its release, Bell ventured into self-publishing, and has since then worked as a writer, publisher, and book cover designer. In 2017, Bell quit her role as an editor for ELT publishing to focus on her own creative projects and businesses.