Jenny O’Connell’s debut book project, Finding Petronella, follows her solo trek across Finland in the footsteps of woman legend from the gold fields of Lapland. A 2019 Maine Literary Award finalist, Jenny’s writing has appeared in Creative Nonfiction, SLICE Magazine, Camas, The Stonecoast Review, Hippocampus, and Wanderlust, and was featured in the Maine island art installation Surface First Tilts West. In 2016, she edited the King Fellows Anthology, Not An Apology—a body of work by student activists exploring issues of race and identity in Portland, Maine. Jenny has held artist residencies with the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation in Rockland, Maine, and Chulitna Lodge Research Institute in remote Alaska. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Stonecoast.
Jenny serves as Stonecoast MFA’s Community Outreach Coordinator and mentors young writers as a Teaching Artist at The Telling Room. When she is not writing, she can be found guiding wilderness and international adventure trips, playing music and competitive Ultimate Frisbee, and coordinating flash mobs around the country. She lives in Portland, Maine with her sister and a fridge full of extra sharp cheddar cheese.
