Jen Adams was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and grew up in New England and Philadelphia.
She has a B.A. in Italian and English from Bryn Mawr College and an MFA from Cornell University, where she was also a Lecturer in English.
A winner of the Galson Fiction Prize, her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has received honors and recognition from the Iowa Review, DIAGRAM,The Southampton Review, Glimmer Train, Barthelme Prize, Raymond Carver Short Story Contest, Reynolds Price International Literary Awards, K. Margaret Grossman Awards, Meyerson Fiction Prize, Warren Adler Prize Stories, and the Lorian Hemingway Awards.