:Jo Mazelis

Mazelis was born near Fairwood Common on the Gower Peninsula. She grew up in Swansea, later living in Aberystwyth and then London for over 14 years before returning to her hometown. She worked as a graphic designer for Spare Rib, Undercurrents, Women’s Review, Everywoman and City Limits. She did a Foundation Course at Swansea College of Art, and was awarded a Higher Datec Diploma from Ealing College of Higher Education, a degree in Art & English from Swansea Metropolitan University and an MA in English Literature from Swansea University.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

Mazelis was a Royal Literary Fund fellow at Swansea University 2009-11{{Cite web |title=Jo Mazelis |url=https://www.rlf.org.uk/fellowships/jo-mazelis/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171021003951/https://www.rlf.org.uk/fellowships/jo-mazelis/ |archive-date=2017-10-21 |access-date=2024-04-23 |website=Royal Literary Fund}} and is currently a lector on the Royal Literary Fund Reading Round in Swansea.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

Mazelis's first collection of short stories, Diving Girls (2002), was shortlisted for both Wales Book of the Year and Commonwealth Best First Book.{{Cite web |last=Lavin |first=John |date=2015-04-12 |title=In Conversation with Jo Mazelis |url=https://www.walesartsreview.org/interview-jo-mazelis/,%20https://www.walesartsreview.org/interview-jo-mazelis/ |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=Wales Arts Review |language=en-US}}

Her second collection of stories, Circle Games (2005), was long-listed for Wales Book of the Year.

In 2014, Mazelis wrote a collection of surreal dystopian fiction for Go! Be a Bird!, a collaborative work with award-winning artist Susan Adams.{{Cite web |title=Go! Be a Bird! |url=http://www.susan-adams.co.uk/projects/go_be_a_bird |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020191648/http://www.susan-adams.co.uk/projects/go_be_a_bird |archive-date=2017-10-20 |access-date=2024-04-23 |website=Susan Adams}} She also published the novel Significance (2014), which was awarded the 2015 Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize.{{Cite web |title=Jerwood Fiction prize 2015 shortlist |url=http://www.fictionuncovered.co.uk/prize2015/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171129021724/http://www.fictionuncovered.co.uk/prize2015/ |archive-date=2017-11-29 |access-date=2017-10-20 |website=Fiction Uncovered}}

Mazelis's third collection, Ritual, 1969 (2016), was long-listed for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize{{Cite web |title=Short Story Prize organisers announce diverse longlist for 2017 competition |url=https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/news/2017/03/short-story-prize-organisers-announce-diverse-longlist-2017-competition/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171021003718/https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/news/2017/03/short-story-prize-organisers-announce-diverse-longlist-2017-competition/ |archive-date=2017-10-21 |access-date=2017-10-20 |website=Edge Hill University}} and shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year in 2017.{{Cite web |date=2017-10-20 |title=Announcing the Wales Book of the Year Short List 2017 |url=http://www.literaturewales.org/lw-news/announcing-wales-book-year-short-list-2017/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020191550/http://www.literaturewales.org/lw-news/announcing-wales-book-year-short-list-2017/ |archive-date=2017-10-20 |access-date=2017-10-20 |website=Literature Wales}}

In 2025 Mazelis published the novel The Forger’s Ink, looking at the story of the death of Fanny Imlay, half-sister of Mary Shelley and daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft.{{Cite web |last=|first=|date=|title=The Forger's Ink|url=https://www.serenbooks.com/book/the-forgers-ink |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=Seren Books |language=en-US}}

Several of Mazelis's stories have also been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 including Too Perfect, Snakeskin Becomes Her and The Blackberry Season.

Mazelis's work has appeared in The Lonely Crowd, New Welsh Review, Spare Rib, Poetry Wales, Raconteur, Cambrensis, Nth Position, The Big Issue, Corridor, The Ottawa Citizen, Everywoman, Tears in the Fence and Lampeter Review amongst others.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

Reviewing Circle Games, Anna Scott in the New Welsh Review wrote, "Mazelis plays with the reader, introducing the unexpected by the back door. Fearlessly scrutinising the desires and impulses of her characters, segueing nightmarish fantasies into reality."{{Cite journal |date=Summer 2006 |title=Circle Games by Jo Mazelis |url=https://www.newwelshreview.com/contents-72.php |journal=New Welsh Review |volume=72 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020191405/https://www.newwelshreview.com/contents-72.php |archive-date=2017-10-20}}

Reviewing Ritual, 1969, Rupert Dastur in The Short Story wrote, "Mazelis explores a dazzling range of ideas, geographies and times, often couched in the daily realities of women and children, the marginalised and the powerless, the scared, hopeless, and hapless ... Ritual, 1969 reveals the absolute mastery Mazelis has over the short form and this third collection is a superb display of a writer keenly attentive to the human mind, its motives and its mysteries."{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2016-07-27 |title=The Short Story Review: 'Ritual, 1969' by Jo Mazelis |url=https://theshortstory.co.uk/the-short-story-review-ritual-1969-by-jo-mazelis/ |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=TSS Publishing |language=en-GB |archive-date=21 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021112713/https://theshortstory.co.uk/the-short-story-review-ritual-1969-by-jo-mazelis/ |url-status=live }}

While working for magazines in London in the 1980s Mazelis photographed writers such as P.D. James,{{Cite web |last=Mazelis |first=Jo |date=2014-11-27 |title=P.D. James 3rd August 1920 – 27th November 2014 |url=https://jomazelis.wordpress.com/2014/11/27/p-d-james-3rd-august-1920-27th-november-2014/ |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=jomazelis |language=en |archive-date=21 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171021005433/https://jomazelis.wordpress.com/2014/11/27/p-d-james-3rd-august-1920-27th-november-2014/ |url-status=live }} Patricia Highsmith.{{Cite web |last=Mazelis |first=Jo |date=2015-11-22 |title=Portrait 4 |url=https://jomazelis.wordpress.com/2015/11/22/portrait-4/ |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=jomazelis |language=en |archive-date=21 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171021005356/https://jomazelis.wordpress.com/2015/11/22/portrait-4/ |url-status=live }} and Kathy Acker,{{Cite web |last=Mazelis |first=Jo |date=2016-09-19 |title=Kathy Acker,laughing |url=https://jomazelis.wordpress.com/2016/09/19/kathy-ackerlaughing/ |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=jomazelis |language=en |archive-date=21 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171021005451/https://jomazelis.wordpress.com/2016/09/19/kathy-ackerlaughing/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite AV media |url=https://play.acast.com/s/tlsvoices/kathyackersguts |title=Kathy Acker's guts |type=Podcast |language=en |access-date=2024-04-24 |via=Acast |archive-date=22 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322135805/https://play.acast.com/s/tlsvoices/kathyackersguts |url-status=live }} artists Paula Rego and Nan Goldin,{{Cite web |last=Mazelis |first=Jo |date=2017-02-28 |title=Nan Goldin on the steps near the ICA |url=https://jomazelis.wordpress.com/2017/02/28/nan-goldin-on-the-steps-near-the-ica/ |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=jomazelis |language=en |archive-date=21 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171021005446/https://jomazelis.wordpress.com/2017/02/28/nan-goldin-on-the-steps-near-the-ica/ |url-status=live }} and actors Miranda Richardson{{Cite web |last=Mazelis |first=Jo |date=2015-11-26 |title=Portrait 6 |url=https://jomazelis.wordpress.com/2015/11/26/portrait-6/ |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=jomazelis |language=en |archive-date=21 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171021004902/https://jomazelis.wordpress.com/2015/11/26/portrait-6/ |url-status=live }} and Tilda Swinton,{{Cite web |last=Mazelis |first=Jo |date=2016-05-19 |title=Tilda Swinton |url=https://jomazelis.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/tilda-swinton/ |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=jomazelis |language=en |archive-date=21 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171021005449/https://jomazelis.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/tilda-swinton/ |url-status=live }} amongst others.{{Cite web |title=Jo Mazelis - International Literature Showcase |url=https://litshowcase.org/writer/jo-mazelis |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=Jo Mazelis |archive-date=9 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609121158/https://litshowcase.org/writer/jo-mazelis/ |url-status=live }} Mazelis photographed John Stevens and Dudu Pukwana on a number of occasions, notably while they were recording the album, Radebe: They Shoot to Kill.[https://www.discogs.com/master/359412-Dudu-Pukwana-John-Stevens-Radebe-They-Shoot-To-Kill] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230520110302/https://www.discogs.com/master/359412-Dudu-Pukwana-John-Stevens-Radebe-They-Shoot-To-Kill|date=20 May 2023}} retrieved 2023-05-20{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2024|certain=y|reason=WP:RSDISCOGS}} Since returning to Wales she has photographed a number of Welsh artists and writers including Ed Thomas, Francesca Rhydderch, Lloyd Robson, Kevin Sinnott, David Hurn, Rachel Trezise, Richard Davies, Tristan Hughes, Rhian Elizabeth and musicians Richard Cowell (Rag Foundation) and Paul Battenbough.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

Mazelis has exhibited her artwork at Camerawork, London and the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, and had solo exhibitions at The Camera Club, London and The Dylan Thomas Centre, and a joint show at the Pontardawe Arts Centre. Her photography has been used for a variety of publications from online journals to print magazine covers and book jackets.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

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In the 1980s Mazelis collaborated as a screenwriter for a student film in which she also acted. She also acted in a Super 8 film The Fate of Cain made by Barry Assinder which was shown at the London Film Festival.

• Diving Girls (short stories, Parthian, 2002; published in Danish translation as Forbuden Frugt by Arvids, 2007)
• Circle Games (short stories, Parthian, 2005)
• Significance (novel, Seren, 2014)
• Ritual, 1969 (short stories, Seren, 2016)
• Skin and other short stories (short stories, CPI Group, 2022)
• Blister and Other Stories (as JK Mazelis) (short stories, Redrobe Books, 2022)

Mazelis has won a prize in the Rhys Davies Short Story Award five times,{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} was longlisted for the Asham Award{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} and received prizes in the PenFRO{{Cite web |title=The 2014 Winners |url=https://penfrobookfestival.org.uk/archive/43-author-profile-9-josephine-hammond |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171021003618/https://penfrobookfestival.org.uk/archive/43-author-profile-9-josephine-hammond |archive-date=2017-10-21 |website=Penfro Book Festival}} and Allen Raine competitions.{{Cite web |title=Allen Raine Short Story |url=http://allenraine-shortstory.blogspot.co.uk/ |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=Allen Raine Short Story |language=en-GB |archive-date=21 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171021003839/http://allenraine-shortstory.blogspot.co.uk/ |url-status=live }}

Mazelis was shortlisted for the 2023 in the short fiction category for her book

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [https://jomazelis.wordpress.com/ Official website]
• [https://www.theshortstory.co.uk/jo-mazelis-the-art-of-short-fiction-no-1/ Interview by Rupert Dastur in The Short Story (2015)]
• [http://www.walesartsreview.org/interview-jo-mazelis/ In conversation with Jo Mazelis, Wales Arts Review, 2015]
• [http://www.walesartsreview.org/in-conversation-with-david-hurn/ Jo Mazelis in conversation with David Hurn, Wales Arts Review, 2015]
• [https://americymru.net/americymru/blog/4563/significance-an-interview-with-jo-mazelis Interview in AmeriCymru (2014)]
• [http://litshowcase.org/writer/jo-mazelis/ Video/audio reading from Significance and Ritual, 1969 at International Literature Showcase]

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Category:1956 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century Welsh women writers

Category:21st-century British short story writers

Category:21st-century Welsh novelists

Category:21st-century Welsh women writers

Category:21st-century Welsh writers

Category:Welsh short story writers

Category:People from the Gower Peninsula

Category:Alumni of Swansea University

Category:Alumni of Swansea Metropolitan University

Category:Alumni of the University of West London

Category:Welsh women novelists

Category:British women graphic designers

Category:British graphic designers

Category:Welsh women short story writers