Jenny O’Connell

Jenny O’Connell serves as the Special Projects Coordinator at Stonecoast, where she works on initiatives that build community within the program, elevate underrepresented voices, and empower writers to reimagine and reshape the world through the literary arts. A former Stonecoast student (CNF S’17), Jenny’s debut book project, Finding Petronella, traces her 2014 solo trek across Finland following the footsteps of a female legend into the heart of the Arctic Circle. She is a 2019 Maine Literary Award finalist and Pushcart Prize nominee, and her writing has appeared in Creative Nonfiction, SLICE Magazine, Appalachia Journal, Hippocampus, Camas, Stonecoast Review, and the anthology Awake in the World, v. 2 (Riverfeet Press). 

Jenny lives in Portland, where she is a contributor at Maine Magazine, teaches creative writing at The Telling Room, and guides wilderness and international expeditions.