About Jane
Jane Cornes Maclean is a multi award-winning wordsmith. She lives in Queensland with her husband Neil. Her greatest professional joy is helping others realise their own creative potential.
Journalism
Music
Teaching
Editing & creative writing
Journalism
- Jane was a state editor at Gourmet Traveller magazine for over a decade. She was Scoop magazine's first food and wine editor, and the inaugural program director of the Mundaring Truffle Festival.
- For five years, Jane wrote independent restaurant reviews for Post Newspapers under the "Madame Lush" byline.
- In 2009, Jane won the Alinta Hospitality Awards for Excellence Media Award, for a significant contribution to the restaurant and catering industry by a journalist.
Music
- Jane was artistic director of the Nanga Music Festival for over a decade.
- In 2011, Jane created Monday Supperclub, a monthly event showcasing quality independent music. When Jane moved from Perth to Brisbane in early 2021, she handed over the management of Supperclub to Little Folk Inc., a charity raising funds for research into children's cancer.
- Jane has written dozens of songs, released four CDs of original music and was half of acclaimed duo Doris. Today, she performs in the duo Jane and The Rain with Neil, playing at festivals and events throughout Australia.
- Mermaid's Lullaby, co-written by Jane and Neil, was named best song at the 2020 Tablelands Folk Festival songwriting competition.
Teaching
- Jane is the creator of the Lived Experience therapeutic creative writing workshop, which offers to modules to those seeking perspective on their lives. She also teaches creative writing and songwriting at retreats and festivals throughout Australia and overseas.
Editing & creative writing
- Jane has edited numerous non-fiction titles and contributed many hundreds of feature articles to a wide variety of magazines and newspapers, on topics ranging from the nature of grief to an in-depth look at the sex worker industry.
- When freelance work dried up due to Covid, Jane wrote, photographed and designed Lazy Fare, a collection of recipes and non-fiction writing gleaned from over 20 years as a food and travel journalist. In 2021, the book won a special category award at the Gourmand International book awards.
- In 2020, Jane was named winner of the AAWP/ASSF best short story competition for her short story Cockroach.
- In 2023, her short story Sisu was long-listed for the Fish Publishing short memoir prize.
- In 2024, her short story Bottlebrush was long-listed for the Sydney Hammond Memorial short story prize.
- In 2024, her short story Vinegar Lips was Highly Commended by the Marje Wilke short story awards.