Jean Menzies

​Jean Menzies is an author, presenter, and as of 2022 Dr Jean Zacharski Menzies, PhD in ancient history! She is Edinburgh born and based. You might know her from her YouTube channel JeansThoughts where she’s been discussing books, writing, studying, and ancient history since 2012.

In 2020 she won the BAMB Breakthrough Author award for her first book, Greek Myths: Meet the heroes, gods, and monsters of ancient Greece, which was published by DK and is aimed at children aged 7-11. Since then she has gone on to write nonfiction books on history and mythology for all ages.

In 2025 her debut adult fantasy novel was published by Michael Joseph, Penguin. The Lady of the Lake is a sapphic reimagining of Arthurian legend packed full of female rage, Celtic mythology, and lots and lots of magic. 

Her research interests lie in the history of women’s lives in antiquity. Whether it be their sex lives or legal rights, she is fascinated by it all. Her PhD thesis dealt with the politicisation of sexual violence against women in democratic Athenian rhetoric and she has also contributed to such volumes as Revisiting Rape in Antiquity (published by Bloomsbury). ​She has also written on the significance of Greek Mythology in modern day LGBTQIA+ literature.

Photo credit: Tazmyn-Mei Gebbett