Erik Jensen is an Australian journalist and author, known for his 2014 biography of artist

Adam Cullen Adam Frederick Cullen (9 October 1965 – 28 July 2012) was an Australian artist, most known for winning the Archibald Prize in 2000 with a portrait of actor David Wenham. He was also known for his controversial subjects and his distinct ...

, ''Acute Misfortune: The Life and Death of Adam Cullen'', and as founding editor of ''

The Saturday Paper ''The Saturday Paper'' is an Australian weekly newspaper, launched on 1 March 2014 in hard copy, as an online newspaper and in mobile news format. The paper is circulated throughout Australian capital cities and major regional centres. Since i ...

''.

Early life

Jensen went to primary school in

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

, attending a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

school for a while. He said that it was while he was there that he discovered that his parents were "godless", so he prayed for them for about six months before he "left

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

at about six and a half".

Career

Jensen started writing for

music magazine A music magazine is a magazine dedicated to music and culture in music cognition, music culture. Such magazines typically include music news, interviews, photo shoots, essays, record reviews, concert reviews and occasionally have a covermount with ...

s when he was 15, and ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' employed him as a critic when he was 16. After finishing high school, the ''Herald'' took him on as a news reporter, a role he was in for five years, until at the age of 23 he became summer editor at the paper. While he was at the ''Herald'', he won a

Walkley Award The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...

for Young Print Journalist of the Year in 2010. In 2008,

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...

-winning artist Adam Cullen asked Jensen to live with him and write his biography. He stayed for about four years, in the role of observer as Cullen dealt in drugs and was arraigned for weapons possession. Jensen was even shot in the leg by Cullen, to prove his commitment to the book. After Cullen's death in 2012, Jensen completed and published his biography, titled ''Acute Misfortune: The Life and Death of Adam Cullen''. He later said "...I allowed myself to be in fairly traumatic settings during that book, because I had convinced myself that the professional response was to be absent from them" and that he " eededto continue working on the project to properly extricate imselffrom it". He had met publisher

Morry Schwartz Morris Zoltan Schwartz AM (; born 1948) is an Australian publisher, formerly a property developer, based in Melbourne. He is the owner of Schwartz Publishing, the publisher of the influential '' Quarterly Essay'', ''The Monthly'', and ''The S ...

while he was at the ''Herald'' and together they decided to launch a Saturday newspaper. Jensen moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in 2013 in order to prepare for publication of the new weekly newspaper. ''

'' was launched in February 2014, as a return to "old fashioned journalism", and based on Jensen's drive to "reconnect journalism with writing" and away from "just arranging facts from most important to least important". Jensen remained editor until June 2018, when

Vice Media Vice Media Group LLC is a Canadian-American digital media and broadcasting company. Vice Media encompasses four main business areas: Vice Studios Group (film and TV production); Vice TV (a joint venture with A&E Networks, also known as Vicelan ...

features editor Maddison Connaughton was appointed to the position, when Jensen became

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of Schwartz Media. In 2017, Jensen published an essay, ''Erik Jensen on Kate Jennings'', in the monograph series ''Writers on Writing'', in which he writes about the Australian novelist, poet and feminist

Kate Jennings Catherine Ruth Jennings (20 May 1948 – 1 May 2021) was an Australian poet, essayist, memoirist, and novelist. Biography Born at Temora, Jennings grew up on a farm near Griffith, New South Wales. She attended the University of Sydney in the la ...

. Jensen co-wrote the

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

of the 2019 film ''

Acute Misfortune ''Acute Misfortune'' is a 2018 Australian drama film co-written, directed and produced by Thomas M. Wright. The story is based on Sydney journalist Erik Jensen (writer), Erik Jensen's biography of Australian artist Adam Cullen, who died at the ...

'', with director Thomas M. Wright. He has also written for television. In 2019, he released a ''

Quarterly Essay ''Quarterly Essay'', founded in 2001, is an Australian periodical published by Black Inc., concentrating primarily on Australian politics in a broad sense. Printed in a book-like page size and using a single-column format, each issue features a ...

'' about that year's federal election, titled ''The Prosperity Gospel''. It was described as a "dazzling report from the campaign trail". In 2021, he released a collection of poetry, titled ''I Said the Sea Was Folded''. In 2024, he released a collection of political writing, titled ''Angry at Breakfast''.

Awards

, Jensen has won the following awards: *2009: Winner, United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Award *2010: Winner,

for Young Australian Journalist Award, Print News *2012: Finalist, Walkley Award for Young Australian Journalist Award, Print News *2014: Finalist, Walkley Award, All Media Headline Journalism *2015: for ''Acute Misfortune: The Life and Death of Adam Cullen'' **Winner, "The Nib", CAL Waverley Library Award for Literature, Alex Buzo Shortlist Prize **Winner, "The Nib", CAL Waverley Library Award for Literature **Shortlisted,

Victorian Premier's Literary Awards The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary ...

, Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-Fiction **Shortlisted, Walkley Book Award * 2018: Winner, The Age Critics Award for best Australian feature *2019: for ''

'' (2019 film) **Nominated,

Film Critics Circle of Australia The Film Critics Circle of Australia (FCCA) is an association of cinema critics and reviewers. It includes journalists in "media, television, major national and state papers, radio, national and state, online and freelance writers, Australian ...

– Best Screenplay, Original or Adapted **Nominated,

AACTA Awards The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the cinema of Australia, film and ...

, Best Indie Film * 2022: ** Finalist, Walkley Award, Commentary, Analysis, Opinion and Critique ** Finalist, Walkley Award, Public service journalism *2023: Winner, Quill Award, Reporting on Disability Issues *2024: Winner, Keith Dunstan Quill for Commentary

Bibliography

Books

* Jensen, Erik. ''Acute Misfortune: The Life and Death of Adam Cullen''. 2014. * Jensen, Erik. ''I Said the Sea Was Folded''. 2021. * Jensen, Erik. ''Angry at Breakfast''. 2024.

Essays and Monographs

* Jensen, Erik. "Erik Jensen on Kate Jennings". In ''Writers on Writing'' series, 2017. * Jensen, Erik. "The Prosperity Gospel". In ''Quarterly Essay''. 2019.

Screenwriting

* Jensen, Erik and Wright, Thomas M. ''

''. 2019.