Jennifer Morag Henderson

Jennifer Morag Henderson is a writer from Inverness. Her new book Daughters of the North: Jean Gordon and Mary, Queen of Scots was published in 2022. It is currently longlisted for the Highland Book Prize, and reviews have described it as ‘Captivating’ (The Herald), ‘deeply researched and detailed’ (Alan Massie in The Scotsman), ‘riveting reading’ (Marie Stuart Society) and ‘utterly absorbing… an essential addition for any individual keen to learn more about this country’s eccentric history’ (Scottish Field).

Jennifer’s first book, the biography Josephine Tey: A Life, is published by Sandstone Press and was listed in the Observer newspaper’s Best Biographies of 2015, the Independent’s Best Crime Books of 2015, and the Telegraph’s list of Best Books of 2016. It was republished in a new edition in 2021.

Jennifer Morag Henderson is the first biographer of novelist and playwright Josephine Tey and has lectured and written extensively about Tey’s life, crime fiction and theatre work, including articles for the BBC and Northwords Now, and talks for Inverness Museum and the British Library. She was instrumental in getting a blue plaque for Josephine Tey in Tey’s home town of Inverness.

Jennifer’s particular interest is in history and biography. Other writing and research has included work on 20th-century Scottish writers including M.E.M. Donaldson and Hugh MacDiarmid, on the 17th-century adventurer Donald McBane, historic Inverness, and more.

Jennifer’s articles, short stories and poems have been published in magazines and anthologies, including Northwords Now (where she is a Contributing Writer), Riptide (Two Ravens Press), The Dalhousie Review, Causeway/Cabhsair, Gutter, Poetry Scotland, by the BBC, in the Press and Journal, the National and elsewhere.

As a playwright, her work has been performed for the National Theatre of Scotland’s Five Minute Theatre project, through the Play Pieces lunchtime theatre initiative, and at Eden Court Theatre in Inverness.

She edited literary magazine Random Acts of Writing from 2006-2010, and has worked in several different areas of the book trade, including bookselling, libraries and publishing.