Writer, speaker, academic and festival director.
Jess operates across a range of disciplines and areas, trying to make sense of the world through as many avenues as possible.
Using the past to inform the future has situated their creative writing in the space of speculative fiction and sci-fi, five years living in Edinburgh turned them into a poet, and a curiosity about language biases led to the completion of a PhD in psycholinguistics. Jess also runs the Black Unicorns Reading Group - a book club for Black queer people to read Black queer writing, and a thrill from speaking to interesting people has made Jess a well-known events chair across Scotland, particularly in the literary scene. An attempt has been made to tie all of these lives together on this website.
At some point during all of this, Jess decided to found an arts festival…
Jess founded the multi-award-winning arts initiative Fringe of Colour back in 2018. The project exists to support Black people and People of Colour at arts festivals in Scotland and beyond. Fringe of Colour began as a database of shows by Performers of Colour at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and since then it has evolved and expanded, including becoming a community space, an event facilitator and a writing platform led by a dedicated team.
The latest evolution of the project is Fringe of Colour Films - a hybrid arts festival and film production collective for Black creatives and Creatives of Colour. The festival has reached artists and audiences across 50 different countries and has produced new work and new writing of exceptional standards. Head over to fringeofcolour.co.uk to learn more about the project.
Image credit: Jack Arts