JEN KNOX

writing, meditation, leadership

Jen Knox is the author of We Arrive Uninvited (2023, Steel Toe Books Prose Winner), Chaos Magic (2025, Kallisto Gaia Press), The Glass City (Press Americana Prize Winner), and At Work (2027, forthcoming from Cornerstone UWSP). Her shorter work has won awards, including the San Miguel de Allende Award in Nonfiction, the CutBank Montana Award for the Essay, and the Flash Fiction Award.

After teaching creative writing for over a decade, Jen began coaching writers 1:1 and offering idea-to-publication services through Unleash Creatives, a holistic arts organization she founded and co-owns. She also teaches meditations/courses at Insight Timer. Jen aims to practice the same curiosity and personal inquiry in all facets of life. She reflects on all of it here.

“Jen Knox is a fearless writer. She can describe a Toledo community decimated by apocalyptic drought, a bakery in Nice during a terrorist attack, a surreal museum of living statues, and make every one of these things feel as real and intimate as your favorite worn-in flannel shirt. Acutely alert to the smallest moments that reveal character, her stories can give you a whole life in a few short paragraphs, laid bare in all its sorrow, glory and restless longing. She can work dialogue, twist a plot, make you laugh out loud, and then break your heart.” —Sheila Black, author of Iron, Ardent

Praise for “Disembodied” from Joni Tevis: “I was immersed in this essay from the very first line. 'Imagine a young woman,' the speaker invites the reader to do; I did. The dream of being someone 'degreed and respected, a woman people will listen to'; a woman with a house, yard, and 'sweet dog with an underbite' (yes!) was a dream that hit home with me. I wanted this for her, and when I saw her hurt in body and mind, leaning against the wall of a Goody Boy, I had to find out what had brought her there—and how she would move on from it... And this piece manages the impressive feat of both depending on the feeling of separation from the body, and putting the reader into the lived, grounded experience of this speaker. The essay earns its powerful conclusion: '…I see a young woman who bears down with the strength of a warrior, while her body rises.' The ground pushed back. I feel honored to have read your story. Thank you.”

"A talented writer exhibiting her intuition, Knox understands that our greatest fear is loneliness … she gifts us with myriad ways to find a cure." —Tara Lynn Masih, author of How We Disappear

Jen's holistic training and experience:

MFA, Bennington College
BA, Otterbein University
Credential in Leadership and Management, Harvard Business School

Lecturer, The Ohio State University
ICF-Certified Professional Coach
Former Lecturer, San Antonio Community College
Former Program Director, Gemini Ink
200hr through Uplifted™ Yoga YTT
Meditation instructor at Aura and Insight Timer
Science of Well-Being Course at Yale University

Jen works with a limited number of clients at a rate of $222/hour for personal/

professional coaching. Email for details.

SHORT WRITING BIO (full press kit is here)

Jen Knox is an educator and storyteller who teaches writing, leadership, and meditation. Her first novel, We Arrive Uninvited, won the Steel Toe Books Award, and her second novel, Chaos Magic, was a finalist for the Joshua Tree Prize and was published by Kallisto Gaia Press. She is also the author of The Glass City, which won the Press Americana Prize for Prose. Jen's short fiction can be found in Chicago Tribune, Prose Online, McSweeney's Internet Quarterly, The Saturday Evening Post, and more. She won CutBank’s Montana Prize in Nonfiction for "Disembodied" and the San Miguel Contest for her essay, "Teeth." Jen is the proud recipient of grants from the Greater Columbus Arts Council and the Ohio Arts Council to complete a collection of narrative essays, At Work, which will be released by Cornerstone Press UWSP.