Jennifer Rumsey was raised on Sydney's northern beaches and has a deep love of the sea. During her formative years she studied typing and shorthand and did secretarial work, studying art and music in her spare time. On attaining her majority she successfully applied to study full-time at the NSW State Conservatorium of Music, graduating in 1969 with a DSCM (Hons) in piano teaching. She accepted Director Joseph Post's invitation to join the staff and taught piano and accompaniment at the Conservatorium for two years (1969-70), leaving to establish a private practice. Later, while completing a BA in behavioural science and philosophy at Macquarie University, Jennifer was able to include a computing subject, and at the invitation of Prof. Warren Thomson, returned to the Conservatorium to teach computing in the teaching certificate course.
When, in her fifties, she began to write, Jennifer returned to formal study, quickly gaining post-graduate qualifications from the University of New England, the University of Sydney, and Deakin University, in such branches of English study as English Literature, Creative Writing (Poetry), and Children's Literature. She also gained a PhD in English from the University of Sydney with a biography of the Australian short story writer, John Morrison. Her love of creative writing in general, and poetry in particular, was initially fostered by fellow members of the Fellowship of Australian Writers (North Shore Branch) and later in study supervised by Dr Noel Rowe at the University of Sydney. Jennifer is a life member of the Society of Women Writers NSW Inc., of which she is a former president (Biography provided by the author).
