‘Doing God’s work’: Dana Canedy on telling her family’s story in ‘A Journal for Jordan’

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Simon & Schuster publisher Dana Canedy shares a personal story of love, loss and resilience that inspired her best-selling book and now the Denzel Washington-directed film “A Journal for Jordan.”

Canedy gave her fiancé, First Sergeant Charles Monroe King, a journal to write to their unborn son before his deployment to Iraq. King was able to meet their son but was killed by an IED when Jordan was just six months old. King wrote hundreds of pages in the journal to their child, which Canedy describes as reflections on the power of prayer, how to choose a wife, and how to live an honorable life.

Canedy discusses her hands-on role throughout the movie's filming and says both she and Denzel Washington believe faith is the driving force behind the production. She says Washington told her he was “called by God” to make it.

One of the most powerful women in publishing, Canedy stood up to criticism about a Simon & Schuster book deal for Vice President Mike Pence's memoir. Speaking generally about the industry, Canedy says canceling a book should be "last resort." She says it’s important to listen to those we disagree with and that “an echo chamber is one of the most dangerous things that we can tune into.”

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