Jessica Townsend was born and raised in Queensland, Australia. She started writing as a child, with a local library publishing her first story in their newsletter when she was seven. Before becoming a full-time author, she was a copyeditor for the wildlife magazine published through Steve Irwin’s Zoo. As a child and young adult, Townsend read various literature which influenced her novels—including the works of J. K. Rowling, Gregory Macguire, Phillip Pullman, and Ann M. Martin. Readers frequently compare her magic to the magic system of the Harry Potter series, while recognizing its unique spin.

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow is Townsend’s debut novel, the sales of which allowed her to quit working as a copyeditor and start her career as a full-time author. Her Nevermoor series quickly received critical acclaim, including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize in the Younger Fiction category and the Book of the Year award at the Australian Book Industry Awards. She initially sold the rights for the Nevermoor series to Hatchette in 2016. Townsend has since published two more novels in the series and planned at least nine. Since its publication, Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow is now available in 39 languages—including Spanish, Swedish, German, and Croatian.