Liz Jensen is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the author of eight novels spanning comedy, speculative fiction, psychological suspense, historical drama and cli-fi. They include Ark Baby, shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Award, long-listed for the Orange Prize, and named a Notable Book of the Year in the New York Times; War Crimes for the Home, nominated for the Orange Prize, and twice adapted for the stage; and The Ninth Life of Louis Drax, which received an Arts Council of England Writers Award and became a Hollywood movie in 2016. Most recently she has written the ecological thrillers The Rapture (selected for The TV Book Club) and The Uninvited: both are in TV development.
Liz’s work is translated into 20 languages: her short stories have appeared in many anthologies and on BBC radio, and she reviews regularly for BBC’s Saturday Review and The Guardian.
Teaching
Liz became passionate about teaching creative writing after her own experience as a student on an Arvon Foundation course in the 1990s. Over the last 25 years she has tutored regularly for Arvon, been Writer in Residence at Kingston University, taught on residential courses across Europe, mentored for Curtis Brown Creative, and shepherded many novels from first draft to publication. She built the undergraduate Creative Writing Program at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad, and now runs her own courses in Copenhagen.
She lives in Denmark but visits the UK several times a year. She offers face-to-face mentoring by arrangement in London and Copenhagen, as well as on Skype, FaceTime, and What’s App.
'My Gold Dust mentorship with Liz Jensen was incredible. Liz was insightful, encouraging, but honest, so I knew I could completely trust her feedback, both positive and constructive. She praised my characters and voice but she was not reluctant to tell me when a scene wasn’t working. She was right! She read my entire novel draft over our months together. Every month I would polish 10,000 words and she would read them and send comments and then we had wonderful conversations about the work. Over the months, she identified patterns in my writing and I learned to correct them under her guidance. She helped me see methods to deepen my characters and strengthen their appeal to readers. Her editorial techniques for revision were incredibly helpful. I learned so much from her, more than graduate classes, more than any workshop. Gold Dust gave us the flexibility to structure our sessions to our mutual satisfaction. Gold Dust and Liz Jensen provide a fantastic resource for writers.' – Julie Wakeman-Lynne
'Liz is a very engaging and supportive mentor with wealth of technical expertise. – Stephanie Scott
'On the verge of abandoning all hope and before entering the hell of another revision of my novel by myself, I began my first session with Liz Jensen. In Virgil-like fashion she guided me through an infernal revolution. Our collaboration gave my work a new opening, stronger characters, and a fireproof plot. Liz made me feel I could experiment with my voice and plunge into my protagonist’s emotions. I overcame my shyness and dared to speak up for the sake of the story. Our journey is now over and, with a fresh draft of my novel under my arm, I look forward to seeing again the stars.' – Laura Salvini
