Jen Knox

Fiction Writer, Creative Nonfiction Writer

Columbus, OH
Ohio US
Email: 
Jen.Knox395@gmail.com
Website: 
www.jenknox.com
RSS feed: 
www.jenknox.net/

Author's Bio

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 released in 2025 from 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 is forthcoming from Cornerstone Press UWSP. 

Links to learn more about Jen: jenknox.com; Insight Timer; Unleash Creatives

Education: 
Bennington Writing Seminars at Bennington College MFA
Writers Retreats: 
Vermont Studio Center

Publications & Prizes

Creative Nonfiction

Book:
At Work (Cornerstone Press, 2027)
Journals:
Annalemma Magazine
,
Clackamas Literary Review
,
flashquake
,
Litro Magazine
,
Lost In Thought
,
Metazen
,
Midwest Literary Magazine
,
Narrative Magazine
,
Per Contra
,
SLAB
,
Slow Trains

Fiction

Anthologies:
The Best Small Fictions 2017 (Braddock Avenue Books, 2017)
,
Modern Shorts (Fiction Attic Press, 2015)
Books:
Chaos Magic (Kallisto Gaia Press, 2025)
,
We Arrive Uninvited (Steel Toe Books, 2022)
,
Resolutions: A Family in Stories (Aquarius Press, 2020)
,
The Glass City (Hollywood Books International, 2017)
,
After the Gazebo (Rain Mountain Press, 2015)
,
To Begin Again (All Things That Matter Press, 2011)
Chapbook:
Don't Tease the Elephants (Monkey Puzzle Press, 2014)
Journals:
A cappella Zoo
,
A-Minor Magazine
,
Adirondack Review
,
Ardor
,
Bartleby Snopes
,
Bound Off
,
Cheap Pop
,
Chicago Literati
,
Cleaver Magazine
,
Connotation Press
,
Crannóg
,
Eclectic Flash
,
Edge
,
Eunoia Review
,
Fiction Southeast
,
Flash Fiction
,
Foundling Review
,
Fwriction : Review
,
JMWW
,
Literary Orphans
,
Litsnack
,
Long Story Short
,
Lunch Ticket
,
McSweeney's Internet Tendency
,
Monkeybicycle
,
Pank
,
Per Contra
,
Pine Hills Review
,
Prick of the Spindle
,
Printers Row Journal
,
Ramshackle Review
,
Room of One's Own
,
Saturday Evening Post
,
Short Story America
,
Skidrow Penthouse
,
Stone Highway Review
,
Subliminal Interiors
,
Sunday Salon
,
The Criterion: An International Journal in English
,
Thrice Fiction
,
THRUSH Poetry Journal
,
Thumbnail Magazine
,
Used Furniture Review
Prizes won: 

Author of three award winning books: CHAOS MAGIC (2025, Kallisto Gaia Press - Joshua Tree Prize Finalist), WE ARRIVE UNINVITED (Steel Toe Books Prize Winner), and THE GLASS CITY (Winner, Prize Americana for Prose).

Recipient: Greater Columbus Arts Council Grant, 2025

"Volunteer," Essay., Honorable Mention, New Millenium Writers. 2025

"Blackouts," Essay., Pushcart Nominee, ELJ. 2025

ABOUT THE WORK, Memoir, Finalist. Minerva Rising’s 2023 Memoir Contest

Finalist, Trio House Press 2024 Memoir Contest, ​Thanks to the Ohio Arts Council for a grant to complete this project.

CHAOS MAGIC, Novel. Kallisto Gaia Press; Finalist, 2023 Joshua Tree Competition (forthcoming).

​Recipient of an Artist grant from the Greater Columbus Arts Council, 2024.

"Teeth," Essay., Winner, 2023. San Miguel Prize

"Factory Work," Essay. Gordon Square Review Finalist, 2023. New Millenium Writing Awards, 

"Steady," Essay. Honorable Mention, 2023. Tom Howard/John H. Reid Contest, 

"Disembodied," Essay. WINNER, CutBank Montana Prize in Nonfiction (soon to appear in Issue 99) 

Finalist, 2022. Cutthroat Barry Lopez Prize for Nonfiction

Finalist, 2022. New Millenium Writing Awards

DESPITE THE WORK. Chapbook., Finalist, Gold Line Press Chapbook Competition

WE ARRIVE UNINVITED. Novel:

Winner, 2021. Steel Toe Books Award. 

Winner, 2021. Winter Goose Publishing Award.

Quarterfinalist, ScreenCraft Cinematic Book Competition.

Second Rounder, Launch Pad Prose Competition.

Redlist, Coverfly. 

DANDELION GHOSTS. Flash.

Winner, 2020 Flash Fiction Magazine Award.

THE GLASS CITY. Stories.

Winner, 2016 Press Americana Award.

​Finalist, 2016 Calvino Prize from The University of Louisville.

TO BEGIN AGAIN. Stories.

Winner, Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Fiction.

RESOLUTIONS. Stories.

Semifinalist, 2018 Book Pipeline Competition

Short stories.

Best Short Fictions, 2017. Anthology.

Finalist, 2021 Women On Writing Essay contest

Finalist, Dundee Book Awards.

Finalist, Glimmer Train Award.

Finalist, Certy's Prize.

Wigleaf's Top 50, 2012.

Watch

Personal Favorites

What I'm reading now: 
On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder, The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Columbus
Raised in: 
Columbus, OH
Ohio
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Apr 07, 2025