“
I am British-born of Jamaican descent,
my feet straddle continents. I am both and
I am neither and the hinterland between
I am Usain Bolt taking tea with the queen...
”
-'Where do you come from?', The bulldog and the hummingbird
Jessica's work is preoccupied with the riddle of belonging and life at the interstices between British and Jamaican culture; a space where personal experience meets collective consciousness.
b.1981
London, UK
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 Company magazine, I-magazine, 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.
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.
