Jo Fredell Higgins has used her writing skills to promote the history of local communities, including DeKalb.

Born and raised in Peoria, Higgins is a teacher, photographer and an internationally published writer; she has always had a passion for writing.

“Even as a child, I wrote poems and little stories and so forth,” Higgins said. “I’ve always loved writing and photography.”

Higgins was named a YWCA “Woman of Distinction” in 2004. The YWCA “Women of Distinction” awards are given to those who have exhibited excellence, leadership and integrity in their field and in their community, according to the organization’s website.

Higgins graduated from NIU with a master’s degree in education. The main thing she remembers about NIU is the cold winters.

“Oh! It was miserable walking across that campus,” Higgins said. “Those winter winds just whipped across that area.”

Higgins has taught all different age groups in Peoria, and in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She also taught at the Waubonsee Community College in Aurora for 21 years. Through 40 years of teaching, Higgins has taught about 20 years of elementary students, and about 20 years of adults.

Higgins has written a total of eight books so far, and she doesn’t plan on stopping there. Each one is historical or historical fiction. Higgins said she always had an interest in history, but it wasn’t until the millennium that she started writing about it.

“…There was a group in Aurora who got together to produce historical vignettes that we put on tape to recognize that turning of the year 2000,” Higgins said. “It was called ‘Millennium Moments,’ so I helped write and produce some of those vignettes about the history of Aurora.”

It was after writing historical vignettes that Higgins realized she wanted to do more historical writing. Her first book was published in 2001 by Arcadia Publishing, entitled “Naperville,” Her first books, along with three others, are part of Arcadia Publishing’s series “Images of America.”

Her third book, “DeKalb,” was published in 2004. “DeKalb” remains her second-best selling title, the first being “Naperville.”

“DeKalb is a wonderful society; the people are absolutely wonderful to help me connect with others to get their photos and their history and so on,” Higgins said.

Higgins serves on the board of the Aurora Library Foundation. Apart from writing books, Higgins also writes for periodicals. She writes a weekly column for Aurora’s The Voice newspaper, and a monthly column for Oracle magazine.

Her latest book, “Legendary Locals of Aurora” was published in December. Higgins said she has an idea for her next book, but she plans to wait to officially announce her next title.

Aside from writing, Higgins also loves photography. She currently has a photography show for the rest of this month at the Geneva Public Library, 127 James St. The photos on display are from her book tour in Ireland, which she went on last year.

“I will continue with my photography and my writing and all the things that I’m interested in Aurora.” Higgins said.