Jenny is an international best-selling author, writing mentor, potter and passionate advocate for embracing difference and living one's authentic self. Her life and work are shaped by lived experience: Jenny was born with Crouzon syndrome (a facial difference), lives with low vision and is neurodivergent. These perspectives infuse everything she creates, from the stories she writes to the clay she shapes.
Jenny's Writing
Writing has always been Jenny's way of making sense of the world. After 25 years of teaching in primary classrooms, she turned her focus to writing full‑time, completing several courses and diving deeply into the craft.
She writes memoirs, short stories, and middle‑grade/YA fiction that champion diversity, disability, resilience, self‑acceptance and anti-bullying. The Children’s Craniofacial Association endorsed Jenny's debut novel Ride High Pineapple (2016), and Simon Sees (2022) — endorsed by Guide Dogs Queensland — was shortlisted for the Forevability Award.
In 2025, Jenny published her hybrid memoir Be Weirdly Wonderful! Embrace Your Differences, a celebration of authenticity and courage. Her short stories appear in 26 anthologies and have been recognised in the Sydney Hammond Memorial Prize, the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland Awards, and Stories of Life.
Jenny also mentors with the Queensland Writers Centre, supporting emerging writers who are crafting their memoirs to find their voice.
Jenny's Pottery Practice
Pottery entered Jenny's life in 2020 through lessons with Guide Dogs Queensland, and it quickly became a creative passion. Working with clay allows Jenny to explore texture, form, and storytelling in a tactile way that suits her low vision and neurodivergence. Playing with clay brings Jenny peace and creates a space where she can be herself.
Many of Jenny's pieces are inspired by the natural world — beaches, forests, flowers, animals — and each work is one‑of‑a‑kind. She loves experimenting with colour and texture, and she's begun blending her writing and pottery into narrative‑infused ceramic pieces.
Jenny's work has been exhibited in multiple exhibitions, and she sells her ceramics at local markets.
What Jenny Believes
At the heart of everything Jenny does is her motto: Be Weirdly Wonderful! Embrace your differences. Jenny believes stories and art have the power to change how we see ourselves and each other. They can also bring hope and comfort, and pure joy.
Contact Jenny directly at jenny@jennywoolsey.com and
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