Jennie Kaufman writes fiction, essays, and magazine articles. For Ancestry magazine, she has written about public health threats in the 19th century; attic finds that inspired people to learn about previous residents of their homes; the role of serendipity in genealogical research; and Mark Lemberger's years of detective work to find out who killed his aunt, little Annie Lemberger, in 1911.

She was publications director for Film Fest New Haven for two years and detailed the tribulations of festival programmers for IndieSlate magazine in 2006. She has also written an award-winning screenplay, Mustardville.

Kaufman, who lives in Brooklyn, has an extensive background in book production, with experience as a production editor, proofreader, and typesetter. She also has designed and produced several books. Before that, she was a copy editor at The News-Gazette, the daily newspaper of her hometown, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. She has studied Spanish, French, and German.