Jenn Bennett

Jenn Bennett (born March 1978) is an American author of novels for teens and adults. Her notable works include Alex, Approximately, Starry Eyes, and The Anatomical Shape of a Heart (aka Night Owls).

Personal life

Bennett was born in Germany. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and worked on her master's degree at Louisiana State University. Due to her father's service in the United States Army, she grew up as a military brat, moving to a number of places and traveling extensively in Europe and the Far East. She currently resides in Atlanta with her husband.

Publishing career

Arcadia Bell series

Bennett's debut novel, Kindling the Moon released from Pocket Books in July 2011, and is the first book in the Arcadia Bell series. The final book in the series, Banishing the Dark, was published in 2015; it was nominated for a "Reviewers' Choice Book Award.

Roaring Twenties series

In 2013, Berkley Books published the first book in Bennett's new historical paranormal romance series, Bitter Spirits, taking place in a haunted 1920s San Francisco. It garnered starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and Booklist and was one of six romances published in 2014 to be named on Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2014. The final book in the series, Grave Phantoms, was awarded RT Book Reviews' Seal of Excellence.

Young Adult fiction

In 2015, Macmillan Publishers published Bennett's debut young adult contemporary book, The Anatomical Shape of a Heart, a romance between two aspiring teen artists. Titled Night Owls internationally, foreign rights for the book were also acquired by Simon & Schuster UK, and it was translated into five languages It won a 2015 Reviewers' Choice Award for YA Protagonist from RT Book Reviews and the 2016 RITA Award for Young Adult Romance.

In 2017, Simon and Schuster published her second young adult book, Alex, Approximately, a teen update of You've Got Mail. It received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Booklist, and it was translated into seven languages.

Bennett's third young adult book, Starry Eyes, about two teens who get lost in the California wilderness, was published in 2018 and received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews and was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award for Young Adult Fiction. It has been translated into five languages.