Jenny O’Connell is a writer, outdoor guide, speaker, and professor of creative writing. Her work explores themes of wildness, outdoor adventure, and risk through a feminist lens; connects readers back to joy, creativity, and the wonder of being alive; and reimagines the way we engage with the planet. Wildheart, Jenny’s debut adventure memoir forthcoming from DK Books at Penguin Random House in June 2027, traces her solo trek across Finland following the footsteps of the legendary Petronella van der Moer beyond the Arctic Circle. Wild Story, her Substack, is a collection of essays on staying wild, tender, awake, and connected in this world. She is a staff writer and content developer at the Appalachian Mountain Club.

Jenny’s award-winning nonfiction has appeared in Creative Nonfiction, Backcountry, Down East, SLICE Magazine, Appalachia Journal, Maine Magazine, Decor Maine, A.T. Journeys, Hippocampus, Camas, Stonecoast Review, and elsewhere, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and a Maine Literary Award. Her 17-year career as an outdoor guide has brought her all over the globe leading backpacking, sea kayaking, cultural exchange, winter adventure, and river expeditions from the Peruvian Andes to the wild waters of her home state of Maine. Jenny combines her passion for adventure with environmental storytelling to bring her audience on immersive journeys that inspire them to care for the natural world, such as Follow the Water, the Maine Mountain Media film about her 100-mile source to sea kayak expedition from Bethel, Maine, to Casco Bay for clean drinking water with photographer Andy Gagne.

Jenny has held artist residencies at Monson Arts, Hewnoaks, The KISMET Foundation, the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation, Chulitna Lodge Wilderness Retreat, and Norton Island Residency for Writers and Artists, where she serves on the board. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Stonecoast. She is the Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at Seguinland Institute, teaches craft and professional development seminars at Stonecoast MFA‘s biannual residencies, and mentors creative writers. She never leaves on an adventure without a trusty pair of adventure pants and a waterproof ukulele.

Jenny is represented by Jamie Chambliss and Steve Troha of Folio Literary. She lives in Portland, Maine.

“Heart-pounding, aching invitations into living more beautifully.”

—Katherine E. Standefer, author of Lightning Flowers

“Infectiously joyful, O’Connell’s writing is just plain fun to read. I’d follow her anywhere.”

—Bethany Maile, author of Anything Will Be Easy After This