Jacqueline Kent was born in Sydney and grew up there and in Adelaide. Originally trained as a journalist and broadcaster for the ABC, she has been a book editor and reviewer and has a Doctorate of Creative Arts from the University of Technology, Sydney. As well as biography and social history, she has written fiction for young adults. A Certain Style won the 2002 National Biography Award and the Nita B Kibble Award. An Exacting Heart: The story of Hephzibah Menuhin won the 2009 Nita B Kibble Award. She is also the author of The Making of Julia Gillard. In 2018 she won the Hazel Rowley biography fellowship to write a book about Vida Goldstein.