Jessica Andrews grew up in Sunderland. She writes for the Guardian, the Independent, BBC Radio 4, Stylist and ELLE magazine, among others. Her debut novel, Saltwater won the Portico Prize in 2020. She co-runs The Grapevine, a magazine which aims to give a platform to under-represented writers and co-presents literary podcast Tender Buttons. She lives in Bristol and teaches Creative Writing at Roehampton University.