Dr. Jenna Bailey is a Senior Research Fellow for the Centre for Oral History and Tradition and a Visiting Research Fellow for the Centre for Life History and Life Writing Research (CLHLWR) at the University of Sussex. She is writer and historian who specializes in 20th century British women's history, popular music history and oral history. Jenna works as an oral history consultant on various oral history projects including the Coyote Flats Pioneer Village Oral History Project which was awarded the 2015 Governor General's History Award for Excellence in Community Programming.
Her best-selling first book, Can Any Mother Help Me? (Faber, 2007) told the story of the Cooperative Correspondence Club, a group of British mothers who produced a secret magazine from 1936 to 1990. She is currently working on a book about the Ivy Benson Band, the first nationally known, and longest running all girl band in British history.
In addition to her work in history, Jenna also writes on the subject of grief and loss, including her most recent essay published in A Grief Observed Readers’ Edition (Faber 2015) containing C.S. Lewis’ original text along with contributions by Hilary Mantel, Rowan Williams, Francis Spufford and other noted authors. Jenna has her PhD in Contemporary History and her Master's Degree in Life History and Mass Observation Research from the University of Sussex in Brighton, England as well as her BAH in History from Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada.