Jessica Raschke is a writer, artist and editor of The Soul Spectrum living in the Southern Highlands in New South Wales, Australia.

Jessica is also a death literacy advocate: she has officiated many funeral services, hosted several Death Cafés, and facilitates a new initiative called “Memento Mori: Community and Conversations” in her local area.

In 2016, she worked with artists Martin Bretherick and Monica Donoso to install Before I Die walls in the Southern Highlands. Her most recent installation, Soul Secrets, was featured as part of MicroGalleries in Nowra (2015), at Ten Thousand Paces in Bowral (2016), and outside the Blue Mountains Food Co-op in Katoomba (2017). She was also featured in the Ward Lane Art project, Four Words with her partner Jim Pettigrew, in 2017 (photo below courtesy of Monica Donoso).

In 2016, her poetry was featured in Bittersweet, a special project of the Southern Highlands Writers Festival. The Bittersweet project has a long history: for starters, it was part of the 2010 and 2012 Melbourne Writers’ Festivals.

Jessica was the inaugural Café Poet in Residence at Mr Tulk Café at the State Library of Victoria. Her first poetry collection,Luscious Glass Cage, was published in 2008. Her second collection, The Beguilings, was published in 2010. Both are available through Ginninderra Press.