Jan Dearman's life-long avocation has been writing fiction, especially that having roots in the history, heritage, and beauty of the Tennessee River Gorge near Chattanooga. River Sisters: The Giver is the account of three courageous Cherokee women, who escape internment during the Removal of 1838, when native peoples were stripped from their lands by powers greedy for gold and fertile soil. The women become a family and a spiritual fortress—Nancy Hilderbrand, the skillful seamstress, left widowed and with child; Kaquoli Hicks, the devoted teacher, left without students; and Sara Colaquee, orphaned during the Removal and adopted by her older “sisters.”  Their talents and strengths make them a formidable assemblage. They return to their home along the tumultuous Tennessee, make their way in “white” society, and, ultimately, earn acceptance and respect and even regain part of their ancestral land.

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Jan is a graduate of the University of Tennessee with a concentration in speech, theater, and English. She has received a couple of writers’ conference awards for fiction, and two of her poems have been published. Jan has devoted most of her adult life to teaching, speaking, and writing Christian materials for ladies and children, including numerous published lectures given in the US and Singapore.  Her book, Choosing China and Spinning Plates, will be released by Sain Publications in the coming year. Jan was part of the original team that began the Gospel Broadcasting Network. Her responsibilities included writing advertising, promotional materials, and scripts. She also wrote, “N. B. Hardeman—the Man, the Moment, and the Message,” a promotional documentary aired in 2007, prior to “GBN at the Ryman—the Tabernacle Sermons Today,” later published in hardback by Publishing Designs, Inc. 

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She currently assists with the radio and television program Good News Today, produced by her husband. Their family has resided in various southern states and in the country of Malaysia, where they served as missionaries.