Happen (2001) and Magic for Beginners (2005). She also illustrated her own children's books, The Old Woman and the Wave (1998) and Sophia, the Alchemist's Dog (2002). She published her first short story collection, The Melancholy of Anatomy, in 2002. In 2003 she launched the Skin Project, which she described as a "mortal work of art": a novella published exclusively in the form of tattoos on the skin of volunteers, one word at a time. Only those participating in the project were permitted to read the entire narrative. Jackson's first novel, Half Life, was published by HarperCollins in 2006. The story of a disenchanted conjoined twin named Nora Olney who plots to have her other twin murdered, Half Life suggests an alternate history in which the atomic bomb resulted in a genetic preponderance of conjoined twins, who eventually become a minority subculture. The novel received mixed-to-positive reviews; Newsweek called it "brilliant and funny," and The New York Times, while praising Jackson's ambition as "truly glorious," added that "All this razzle-dazzle, all the allusions, [and] the narrative loop-de-loops [get] a bit busy." Half Life went on to win the 2006 James Tiptree, Jr. Award for science fiction and fantasy. In 1987, Jackson married the writer Jonathan Lethem; they divorced in 1998. She currently teaches part time in the graduate writing program at The New School in New York City and at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee. Works Hypertexts Patchwork Girl (1995) My Body (1997) The Doll Games (with Pamela Jackson, 2001) Books Illustrated by Jackson Shelley Jackson (2001). Sophia, the Alchemist's Dog. Children's book Other projects Skin (begun 2003) Musée Mécanique, a Web Exclusive The Putti Wrestlemania Hagfish, Worm, Kakapo Stitching Together Narrative, Sexuality, Self: Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl A Review of Patchwork Girl by George Landow SNOW (begun 2014) A Field Guide to Shelley Jacksons (An Aid to Identification) See also Electronic Literature Organization References External links Written On (and Under) the Skin. An interview with Shelley Jackson by Rosita Nunes. Shelley Jackson: The Writer Whose Medium Is Reality from The Quarterly Conversation by William Patrick Wend Shelley Jackson: The Writer Whose Medium Is Reality from The Quarterly Conversation by William Patrick Wend How to Unread Shelley Jackson? by Stéphane Vanderhaeghe Ce que nous lisons, ce qui ne nous regarde pas : lectures intimes de Shelley Jackson by Stéphane Vanderhaeghe 1963 births Living people 20th-century American novelists Berkeley High