Hello! I’m Jessica Friedmann, and this is my website.

I’m a writer and editor currently living on Boonwurrung land in Melbourne’s St Kilda East, with my husband, son, and dog.

Books

My debut book of essays, Things That Helped, came out in 2017 with Scribe in Australia and the UK, and in 2018, with FSG Originals in America. The collection is themed around postnatal depression, but wanders across visual art, dance movies, food, feminism, society, culture etc.

My second volume, Twenty-Two Impressions: notes from the Major Arcana, uses the 16th-century Tarot de Marseille to look at the material history and culture of the tarot, beginning in 15th-century Italy; its survival over 600 years; and the ways its symbols resonate in a contemporary world.

Other writing

Features and articles I have written over the course of my career have appeared in The Globe and Mail, The Guardian, LitHub, Longreads, The Rumpus, The Lifted Brow, Smith Journal, Dumbo Feather, Voiceworks, Arts Hub, newmatilda, Australian Financial Review, The Age, Luxury, and more.

Editing

As an editor, I have worked across student paper Farrago and indie titles Going Down Swinging, a cloth-covered button, and Dumbo Feather, with a stint at the Lonely Planet. I have also been the publications manager at peak body, Australian Poetry.

I currently freelance for Australian publishing houses including Affirm, HarperCollins, Allen & Unwin, Hembury Books, and Echo Publishing. I am available for structural and copy editing, as well as proofreading, and am always happy to chat about new projects.

Get in touch at hello@jessicafriedmann.com, or contact my agent, Grace Heifetz, via Left Bank Literary.