Wendy Jenkins has lived most of her life in Fremantle, Western Australia. She studied Social Work at the WA Institute of Technology (now Curtin University) and was employed for a time as a psychiatric social worker with the Western Australian Mental Health Services. She has also worked as an Art Gallery Supervisor and an arts consultant. Jenkins has been writing poetry since 1979, and her literary roles have included work as a publisher's editor, a manuscript editor and a creative writing teacher.