Jessica Shelley is an author, poet, trauma-informed narrative practitioner, and creative writing educator. Her work explores the intersections of generational trauma, folklore, mythic healing, and the inner lives of women. Writing for both children and adults, she creates story-based spaces for recovery and reclamation—both on the page and in community.

She is the founder and creative director of The Burne Society, a cultural and therapeutic storytelling movement inspired by the legacy of folklorist Charlotte Sophia Burne. Through this, she leads The Goldspinners Circle—a local writing-for-healing community—and publishes The Goldspinners Journal, a reflective Newsletter exploring creative recovery, narrative therapy, and re-enchantment.

Jessica holds a Master’s degree in Creative Writing and Teaching from Cardiff University, where she received a distinction for her research into writing for therapeutic purposes in trauma recovery. She is a certified MHFAider® (MHFA England) and is currently studying Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Oxford to develop a grassroots platform for accessible creative therapy.

With over five years’ experience teaching English and Creative Writing from KS2 to MA level, Jessica has led trauma-informed workshops for women, cancer survivors, and neurodivergent creatives across Shropshire—including partnerships with Swan Hill Studios and the Lingen Davies Cancer Fund.

As a scholar and narrative researcher, she blends psychology, folklore, and creative practice into evolving frameworks for story-based recovery. Her writing has been recognised by SCBWI, WriteMentor, and published in literary journals such as Dear Damsels and Lucent Dreaming. She is the recipient of multiple awards supporting underrepresented voices in storytelling.

Jessica was formerly represented by the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency. After parting ways due to a natural shift in creative direction—toward literary fiction and a more rooted, community-based practice—she stepped into a long-held vision: to build healing spaces through story, enter first-time motherhood, and grow the community work she has dreamt of for years.

She is currently working on two major creative projects:
✨ The Screaming Flowers — a literary folk horror novel exploring matrilineal trauma, sisterhood, and recovery through the uncanny.
✨ Bluebeard’s Daughter — a poetic collection reimagining the Bluebeard myth as a journey through CPTSD recovery, creative reclamation, and mythic rebirth. Blending poetry, fairy tale, and lyric essay, it offers art as a threshold into healing, resistance, and return.

Her work explores generational trauma, folklore, and the mythic psyche of women—drawing from narrative theory, depth psychology, and archetypal storytelling to reimagine how we tell and transform our stories. She sees storytelling as an act of reclamation—a way to find language where silence once lived, to rewrite inherited narratives, and to reshape the stories we tell ourselves. She believes in art as both sword and sanctuary, and, like Burne, honours the cultural psyche revealed in our folklore, fables, and myths.