About Jessica Gabrielzyk
I am a Brazilian writer living in Switzerland. I moved here with my husband and daughter, who was just three months old and already had strong opinions about the whole thing.
I write narrative nonfiction about change. The visible kind and the kind that happens inside a person while everything on the outside looks fine. My work explores identity migration, the loss of felt competence, and the inherited scorecard, concepts I use to describe the internal experiences that often accompany parenting through major life transitions abroad.
Books by Jessica Gabrielzyk
Maternity Abroad: Becoming a Mother in a Foreign Land
Maternity Abroad explores what it means to become a mother far from the system you trusted. It has reached readers in more than fifteen countries across five continents, becoming a trusted resource for expats in Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, India, Australia, and New Zealand. Nominated for the Prêmio Loba 2025 in the Non-Fiction Published Book category. Nominated for the Prêmio Destaque Literário 2025 by the Academia Internacional de Literatura Brasileira in two categories.
Parenting Unpacked: Parenting Through the Loss of Self
Parenting Unpacked explores the experience of parenting through major life disruption, whether that is an international move, a career loss, a new baby, or a life that simply stops responding the way it used to. Published June 2026. Number one bestseller on Amazon Brasil in Importados de Emigração e Imigração. Nominated for the Destaques Literários AILB 2026 in two categories: Auto-Ajuda and Crônicas e Contos. Available worldwide on Amazon in paperback and Kindle.
"We are not alone. We simply didn't have words for it before."
— Ruth E. Van Reken, co-author of Third Culture Kids and co-founder of Families in Global Transition
My First American Coloring Book: Everyday Life in the U.S. for Little Hands
My First American Coloring Book was created to help toddlers engage with daily life in the United States through play and familiar imagery. 101 illustrations. Screen-free. Ages two and up. Germany has become its strongest market.
Intercultural Credentials and Background
Member of SIETAR, the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research.
Member of the Academia Internacional de Literatura Brasileira.
Featured presenter at the SIETAR España Congress 2026 in Valencia, presenting a session called Identity and Migration alongside Ruth E. Van Reken, co-author of Third Culture Kids and co-founder of Families in Global Transition.
Graduate of Griffith University, Brisbane. Graduate of Porto Business School. Seven years in corporate marketing. Founder of Keep It Simple Publishing.
I document this process publicly on my blog, sharing real sales numbers, author interviews, and the ongoing demarketing experiment.
Awards and Literary Recognition
🏆 Number one bestseller on Amazon Brasil — Importados de Emigração e Imigração, July 2026
🏆 Prêmio Loba 2025 — Nominated, Non-Fiction Published Book, Maternity Abroad
🏆 Prêmio Destaque Literário 2025 — Nominated by the Academia Internacional de Literatura Brasileira in two categories for Maternity Abroad
🏆 Destaques Literários AILB 2026 — Running in Auto-Ajuda and Crônicas e Contos for Parenting Unpacked
The Reader
I write for the parent who is still inside it, getting through the day, and wondering somewhere underneath all of it who they are becoming.
The Rest
When I am not writing, I am walking forty minutes uphill with a stroller, telling myself the exercise is the point.
I write in English because in Portuguese I am silly, but in English I am funny funny.
