The way we listen to and tell human stories can reshape our reality. ​​​​
Listen to a sample of Jen's fiction here.
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“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
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"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
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Praise for “Disembodied” from At Work (forthcoming, Cornerstone Press) from Joni Tevis: “I was immersed in this essay from the very first line."​​
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JEN KNOX is the founder / director of Unleash Creatives and an award-winning writer of short fiction and essays, with work in such journals as Room Magazine, CutBank, Chicago Tribune, McSweeney’s Internet Quarterly, Saturday Evening Post, New Winning Writers, The Best Small Fictions, and elsewhere. ​Winner of the Montana Prize for the Essay, the San Miguel Essay Prize, the Press American Award for Prose, and the Steel Toe Books Award, her other honors include grants from the Ohio Arts Council and the Greater Columbus Arts Council and residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, and the Ou Gallery. Jen holds an MFA from Bennington and is at work on a collection of essays. Her first historical novel, Radicals, will be published by Library Tales/Simon & Schuster late 2026. Her first novel, We Arrive Uninvited, is available from Steel Toe Books. Jen writes The Resilient Creative where she posts meditations and prompts and invites writers to join monthly creativity circles.
