Erik Jensen

Erik Jensen is an Australian journalist and author, known for his 2014 biography of artist Adam Cullen, Acute Misfortune: The Life and Death of Adam Cullen, and as founding editor of The Saturday Paper.

Early life Jensen went to primary school in Fiji, attending a Methodist school for a while. He said that it was while he was there that he discovered that his parents were "godless", so he prayed for them for about six months before he "left God at about six and a half". While he was at the Herald, he won a Walkley Award for Young Print Journalist of the Year in 2010.

In 2008, Archibald Prize-winning artist Adam Cullen asked Jensen to live with him and write his biography. He stayed for about four years, in the role of observer as Cullen dealt in drugs and was arraigned for weapons possession. Jensen was even shot in the leg by Cullen, to prove his commitment to the book. After Cullen's death in 2012, Jensen completed and published his biography, titled Acute Misfortune: The Life and Death of Adam Cullen. He later said "...I allowed myself to be in fairly traumatic settings during that book, because I had convinced myself that the professional response was to be absent from them" and that he "[needed] to continue working on the project to properly extricate [himself] from it". of Schwartz Media.

Jensen co-wrote the screenplay of the 2019 film Acute Misfortune, with director Thomas M. Wright. He has also written for television.

In 2019, he released a Quarterly Essay about that year's federal election, titled The Prosperity Gospel. It was described as a "dazzling report from the campaign trail".

In 2021, he released a collection of poetry, titled I Said the Sea Was Folded.

In 2024, he released a collection of political writing, titled Angry at Breakfast.

Awards , Jensen has won the following awards: Nominated, AACTA Awards, Best Indie Film

2022: Finalist, Walkley Award, Commentary, Analysis, Opinion and Critique Finalist, Walkley Award, Public service journalism 2023: Winner, Quill Award, Reporting on Disability Issues 2024: Winner, Keith Dunstan Quill for Commentary