Jeni Hankins

Jeni Hankins is an American performing artist, writer, and maker living in London and Lancashire. Since 2008, she’s toured extensively throughout the USA, Canada, and the UK. New York Times bestselling author Lee Smith writes, “Jeni is a true poet and born storyteller—many of her songs contain whole novels.”

Jeni fashions songs from her Southwest Virginia childhood. She listened while the women chatted around the church quilting frame about moonshining, mining, murder, and the quiet dignity of lives forged in the Appalachian wilderness.

Jeni first attempted knitting with butcher’s twine on two HB pencils. Things progressed and she became obsessed with stranded colorwork. Inspired by Esther Rutter’s knitting book This Golden Fleece, Jeni even wrote a knitting song called “Silver Darling” about a spell-casting herring girl.

You can find Jeni performing with her hand-cranked sewing machine or traveling to some local museum to see what kind of knitting or patchwork waits in an old glass case.