Jennifer Rowe was born and raised in Sydney, Australia with her two younger brothers. She gained her Master of Arts in English Literature at the University of Sydney in 1973 when she was 25. Her first job was assistant editor at Paul Hamlyn publishing. Later on she worked at Angus and Robertson Publishers where she remained there for 14 years. Between the years 1984 and 1992, Rowe continued with her publishing career. She was also, at the time, editing for Australian Women's Weekly. While all this way going on, she wrote novels in her spare time. In 1994, Jennifer became a full-time writer and in 1995, she won the Dromkeen Medal, for advancing children's literature in Australia.