Jen Bowden is a journalist, editor, writer and publishing professional originally from the North East of England. Her work has been published in the Guardian, The Bookseller, the Scotsman and Westerly. She's a PhD candidate in creative writing at Curtin University exploring class and accent bias in contemporary UK fiction, and runs the Northern Voices podcast. She lives in Brisbane with her husband and their family of brass instruments.
In today's episode host Laurie Steed covers a lot of ground with Jen, from her early days growing up in County Durham, England, to her academic journey at Edinburgh University and City University in London. Laurie and Jen chat about her move to Western Australia in 2017 and her experiences working in the local publishing industry, including her time at Fremantle Press. Jen shares her insights on the importance of smaller independent publishers for debut writers, her passion for playing the cornet in brass bands, and her PhD research on biases against Northern writers in the UK book industry. They also touch on the differences between the literary communities in Perth and Brisbane, and Jen offers some great advice for emerging writers on the importance of networking and building connections within the writing community.
Class, brass & bias with writer Jen Bowden