Nell Jones is an emerging Australian writer working across poetry, historical fiction, and performance-based storytelling. Her work explores personal and cultural histories, memory, and the transformative power of language.
Nell’s writing has been featured nationally and internationally, including penning the foreword to The Magic Cube of Time by Mauritian poet Vatsala Radhakeesoon (Impspired, UK). In 2024, she was profiled in Metamorphosis: In Conversation with Nell Jones and Artist Jaimee Hyland, exhibited in the What/How/Why Exhibition at Lighthouse Arts Newcastle.
In 2025, she was awarded the Di Yerbury Residency by the Society of Women Writers NSW, allowing her to write and research in Barnstable, Devon. Her poem Intertidal and the prose piece My Foxy Darling were included in the Women’s InkI Centenary Magazine: 100 Years, 100 Women, 100 Voices.
Nell is the author of two historical novels: The Lost Sister of Groningen 2010, launched at the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2011, inspired by her mother’s post-WWII migration story. A Token for Perry 2018 was launched by Libby Hathorn at Gallery 371, Sydney.
She is currently developing a third novel based on the life of colonial artist Joseph Lycett, stemming from her 2022 Artist-in-Residence placement at Lighthouse Arts Newcastle.
Nell’s poetry collection The Sky Is My Religion was performed at the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, in collaboration with Balinese musicians and dancers. Her work has also appeared in multiple International Dylan Thomas Day celebrations, including: How Time Has Ticked a Heaven Around the Stars (2021 anthology, Infinity Books UK), Celestial Turmoil (event poster feature), Blazing Star for Dylan, Elegy, Is it a Dream? (longlisted, 2023 Love the Words competition).
A former drama teacher and playwright, Nell’s early plays Dead Man’s Alley 1983 Nimrod Theatre and The Blind Forty 1985, Seymour Centre were staged at youth writers’ festivals by the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP). With two degrees in education, she has directed numerous youth theatre productions throughout her teaching career.