About Me
Hi! I'm Jen and I write books.
Some sad. Some funny. Some a little of both.
My debut novel, The Language of Cherries (Owl Hollow Press), released February 11, 2020.
My upcoming novel, All the Lonely People (Owl Hollow Press) releases in fall 2021.
Short Bio
Jen Marie Hawkins writes books that (hopefully) will not embarrass her children or her grandmother.
Long Bio
Jen Marie Hawkins is a South Carolinian masquerading as a Texan. She writes books for young adults (and the young at heart), and she is a Book Coach trained by Author Accelerator. She has been a Pitch Wars mentor since 2015.
Her short works can be found in literary magazines, and her manuscripts have been finalists in the YARWA Rosemary Contest and the RWA Maggie Contest. In 2018, she won the Joyce Henderson Award for her unpublished novel, Before and After August. Her debut YA novel, The Language of Cherries, released in February 2020, and a forthcoming novel releases fall of 2021. She is represented by Hilary Harwell of KT Literary Agency.
Jen lives in the Houston area with her husband and sons, a couple of rambunctious rescue dogs, an inside cat, and innumerable porch cats. When she isn't reading or writing stories sprinkled with magic, you can probably find her cuddling her boys, sipping good wine, and daydreaming about Clemson football season.
A few of my favorite things
Authors who inspire me
A.S. King, Alice Walker, Maggie Stiefvater, Laini Taylor, Maureen Johnson, John Green, Aimee Bender, Sandra Cisneros, Jeff Zentner, Matt de la Peña, Sarah Addison Allen, Kelly Link, Alice Hoffman, Adam Silvera, Laura Esquivel, Haruki Murakami, Neil Gaiman, Jandy Nelson, Pablo Neruda...and on and on and on...
My playlists always contain
Old stuff: The Beatles (4ever), Sam Cooke, Bob Marley, Stevie Nicks, A Tribe Called Quest, Elton John, Van Morrison, Jim Croce, Led Zeppelin
New(ish) stuff: THE AVETT BROTHERS, Amos Lee, Ben Harper, Hozier, Florence Welch, The Wailin' Jennys, The Head & the Heart, Rex Orange County, Jack Johnson, Beabadoobee, Kendrick Lamar, Khalid, Vance Joy, Damien Rice
I get a little obnoxious about
Clemson football. Texans football. Rockets basketball. Red Sox baseball. Pretty much all sports, okay? Avoid my Twitter feed during playoff games.
Endless love for
My sweet boys. Travel. Ukulele music. Archery. Cherry pie. Crossfit. The smell of a campfire. Napa Valley. A well-made mojito. The ocean. Red Rocks. Writer friends. The crinkles around my husband's eyes.