Jennifer Lynn Barnes, born on October 19, 1984, is an American writer renowned for her young adult novels. Coming from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Jennifer, often known as Jen, has had a vibrant life full of diverse experiences. She has been a competitive cheerleader, volleyball player, dancer, debutante, primate cognition researcher, teen model, comic book geek, and even a lemur aficionado.

Jennifer has been passionate about writing since her early years. She completed her first full book, which she fondly calls a "practice book," during high school. At the age of nineteen, during the summer following her freshman year in college, she wrote Golden. She graduated high school in 2002 and later earned a degree in cognitive science, which is the study of the brain and thought, from Yale University in May 2006.