About Jess Bardin

Hi, I’m Jess—YA fantasy author, language enthusiast, and professional nerd.

 

I write stories full of ancient myths, magical secrets, and complicated feelings. The kinds of stories where teenagers are handed too much responsibility, magical swords have opinions, and the world hangs in the balance more often than is strictly reasonable. My books explore what it means to find your place, especially when the world doesn’t seem to have a tidy spot for you.

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I studied history at Vassar College, spent two years teaching English in Japan (yes, I do still miss the konbini and the trains), and later earned my MA in English with a focus on linguistics. These days, I work as a freelance writer to pay the bills while pouring the rest of my time and brainpower into fiction—and the occasional Tolkien-level worldbuilding spiral.

 

When I’m not writing fiction, I’m usually down some delightful intellectual rabbit hole. I’m endlessly fascinated by the world and how we explain it: from the quirks of language and grammar to ghost stories, philosophical paradoxes, theoretical physics, mythology, astronomy, psychology, and pop culture. (Yes, that includes Star Wars. And D&D. And why Pluto should never have been a planet in the first place.)

 

All of that curiosity lives over on my blog, The Ongoing Education of Jess Bardin, where I write about whatever I’m learning, questioning, or obsessing over that week.

 

I believe that words can change the world—and that a good cup of tea and a clever idea can get you halfway there.

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💫 A few things I love:

• Slow-burn character arcs & found families

• Travel, especially the kind that sparks new stories

• Languages (I’m currently learning Korean, Japanese, French, Spanish, and German. Yes, really.)

• Rainy days

• The scent of old books

• The lilac bush in my backyard

• And dragons. Always dragons.

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Want to know more about my books?

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