b.1981

London, UK

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Finalist for the 2018 Aesthetica Creative Writing Award

Shortlisted for Penguin Random House's 'Write Now' initiative in conjunction with the BBC

Presented at the 34th Annual Conference on West Indian Literature

Winner of Go Fund Me Gives Back for self-published title 'Sofia the Dreamer and her Magical Afro'

EDUCATION

Advanced Creative Writing, Central St Martins

MA Fashion Journalism, London College of Fashion

BA English Literature, University College London

Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts

Jessica Wilson was born in 1981 to second-generation Jamaican parents and grew up in North London, Camden Town.  

She graduated from University College London in 2001 with a degree in English Literature and went on to undertake an MA in Fashion Journalism at London College of Fashion. She continued writing and styling freelance whilst pursuing a career as a broker in the city for 8 years. Jessica and her work have been featured in publications including The 2018 Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual, Company magazine, gal-dem, I-magazine, Transect, The British Blacklist, The Black Londoner's Forum magazine, Drum magazine, Kilimanjaro magazine and The National Poetry Anthology.  

Jessica was 1 of 50 chosen to participate in Penguin Random House's WriteNow event, held in collaboration with the BBC and Spread the Word to promote diversity in new British writing.  She was also requested to present her paper 'Colonization in Reverse: Writing Caribbean London' at the 34th Annual Conference on West Indian Literature which focussed upon Zadie Smith, Hanif Kureishi and Sam Selvon's re-appropriation of the post-colonial capital.

Jessica began to live between Jamaica and London in 2012 and regularly travels to her sister’s home in Sri Lanka.  She enjoys sharing her work at open mic nights including Poetic Unity at the Black Cultural Archives, The Poetry Cafe in Covent Garden and Adwa, Montego Bay.