Jane Cornwell
Journalist, writer, critic, host.
Informed, engaging writing and copywriting on music, arts, culture and travel by established journalist. Feature interviews a speciality. Books, broadcasting, lecturing, hostingā¦ Let me help you broaden your readership, enliven your event.
Australian-born, London-based, I write for major newspapers and online platforms in the UK and Australia. I have been the jazz critic and world music critic for the London Evening Standard, am a contributing editor of Songlines magazine, a go-to freelancer for the likes of News Limited and Fairfax and a writer of books, press releases, programme notes and copy for a wide range of clients. I’m a compere and onstage interviewer at festivals including WOMAD and the EFG London Jazz Festival.
In 2019 I completed a highly regarded Masters degree in Global Creative and Cultural Industries (Distinction) at SOAS, University of London. My dissertation on the resurgence of jazz music in London – ‘Jazz Refreshed? A Contemporary Jazz Phenomenon’ – involved research, interviews and new ideas. While in Melbourne in 2021 I was writer-in-residence for Yarra Ranges Council. In July 2022 I won the Jazz Media Award at the UK Parliamentary Jazz Awards. I have since compered Higher Ground: A Night with Patti Smith at the London Palladium, the D&B Soundscape stage at the WOMAD festival, the Forum talks stage at Wilderness festival and venues including the Barbican, Cadogan Hall, Royal Festival Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall for the EFG London Jazz Festival. I was a member of the 2023 Moods Jazzpreis Jury in Zurich. Switzerland. Highlights of 2024 included compering the Soundscape stage at WOMAD and venues including Wigmore Hall and Union Chapel for the EFG London Jazz Festival.
In 2025 I introduced the concert by the great Polish film composer Zbigniew Preisner at theĀ Barbican, premiered my self-titled monthly radio show for One Jazz, was filmed chatting with Jacob Collier and Branford Marsalis for Everything Jazz at the Love Supreme festival. I compered and hosted at the EFG London Jazz Festival including a live interview with Hiromi. So far in 2026 I’ve been filmed chatting to Jeff Goldblum for Everything Jazz and been a panellist at the Montreux Jazz Festival Residency x Southbank programme …
