Jen Bowden

Summary

Jen is an editor, academic, writer, journalist, podcaster and event moderator whose work and services focus on accessibility to the writing industry for anyone and everyone. She has worked for a number of publishing houses in the UK and Australia, including Fremantle Press, UWAP and Hachette UK. She now works as a freelance editor and publishing consultant, and teaches publishing, creative writing and journalism at Curtin University. She is available for all types of editing (including thesis editing), mentoring and manuscript development, event moderation and writing workshop facilitation.

Biography

Jen is originally from the North East of England. She studied English and Scottish Literature at Edinburgh University, then gained a masters in Magazine Journalism at City University in London before working as a journalist for a number of years. Her articles have been published in the Bookseller, the Guardian, the Daily Mail, the List, the Herald, Scotland on Sunday and Westerly Magazine. She's worked for a number of independent publishing houses in the UK and Australia including Birlinn Books, Freight Books, Floris Books, Fremantle Press, UWAP and Hachette UK.
She moved to Perth in 2017 and worked in the marketing team at Fremantle Press. From there, she moved to teaching writing, editing, publishing and journalism at Curtin University while working as a freelance editor. She gained her PhD in Creative Writing from Curtin, looking at the use of Northern dialect in contemporary UK fiction and biases against the North in the UK book industry. Her short fiction has been shortlisted and longlisted in numerous competitions.
She also runs the Northern Voices podcast exploring Northern writers (published and unpublished), storytelling and publishing and hosted the Readers & Writers Podcast for Arts Margaret River.

Relevant qualifications

MA English and Scottish Literature (Edinburgh University)
MA Magazine Journalism (City University, London)
PhD Creative Writing (Curtin University)

Recent experience

Lecturer, Creative Writing, Curtin University
Copyeditor, 'Dark Flood' by Karon Alderman, Hachette UK
Proofreader, 'Follow the Salt', Night Parrot Press
Thesis editor, various PhD candidates, Curtin University
Structural editor, 'Before I Sing You This Song' by Justine Sless, Crear Publishing (2026)
Editor, 'How to Survive the Next 100 Years', Simon Mustoe (self-published)
Moderator, Brisbane Writers Festival 2024