McCartney Times

Beatles Author Jude Southerland Kessler on TeaFlix today!
The McCartney ladies had Jude Southerland Kessler on their show today.

In case you missed the broadcast, here’s the YouTube version:

Jude Southerland Kessler has spent her entire life either preparing to write or researching/writing the myth-busting John Lennon Series.

            Jude completed high school in three years and when “she was just seventeen,” she went on to Northwestern State University, LA, to acquire two degrees (English and history) in three years. Kessler immediately won a graduate assistantship to The University of Maryland in 1974 and received her master’s degree in English in 1976. She has taught on the junior high and high school levels and was an English instructor at The University of Maryland and Troy State University, Alabama. Kessler also has a paralegal degree in Law Research.

            In 1986, this student of history began research into The John Lennon Series, a 9-volume work on the life of John Lennon. With a personal Lennon library of over 500 books, numerous interview CDs, DVDs, periodicals, and interview tapes, Kessler undertook seven trips to Liverpool, England to interview John Lennon’s childhood friends, early band members, art college mates, and business associates.

            Establishing a reputation as the leading Lennon expert, Kessler began to speak to organizations across the United States and to write for the Kansas City Beatlefan magazine. She also interviewed U.S.-residing “Beatle people” such as May Pang, George Harrison’s sister, Louise; reporter Larry Kane, Angie and Ruth McCartney, and journalist Ivor Davis.

            In late November of 2007, Kessler published Shoulda Been There (1940-1961) the first historical narrative biography in The John Lennon Series, the result of twenty years of research into Lennon’s life. In 2010, Kessler released the second volume in The John Lennon Series, Shivering Inside (1961-63), followed in 2014 by Volume 3, She Loves You (1963-1964). That same year, she was one of 13 authors included in the respected volume, New Critical Perspectives on The Beatles: Things We Said Today. And in March of 2018, she will release Vol. 4 in The John Lennon Series, Should Have Known Better (1964).

            Kessler has been Guest Author for The Fest for Beatles Fans in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas and is the official blogger for The Fest for Beatles Fans. She was a Guest Presenter at BeatlesFestWest in San Francisco and BEATEXPO in Stanford, CT. In 2008, Kessler was selected as “Featured Author” for the Melrose Arts Festival in Louisiana and keynote speaker for the Philadelphia Women’s Night of Commerce, 2009.

In Feb. 2014, Kessler addressed Penn State Altoona’s “Beatles International Conference” and the University of Pennsylvania’s “Tomorrow Never Knows International Symposium.” And in 2016, she served as Chairperson for the GRAMMY Museum of Mississippi’s “From Cavern to Candlestick” Symposium, the first Beatles’ symposium in the new museum.

            In 2012, Kessler was asked by Beatles at the Ridge Director, Charles Snapp, to create “The Beatles Authors and Artists Symposium.” From 2012 through 2019, Kessler chaired that successful symposium.

        Kessler has hosted “The John Lennon Hour” on BeatlesARama Radio and BlogTalk Radio, and she has been featured on BBC’s “Up All Night,” Rod Quinn’s ABC Radio “Up All Night” from Australia, and May Pang & Cynthia Neilsen’s “Dinner Specials” among many other radio and personal appearances. She currently co-hosts the Podcast “She Said, She Said,” with author Lanea Stagg.

​Please visit Jude’s website.

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