J. K. Fowler grew up in the countryside of the California coast. The golden hills, rolling fog, and mossy oaks that he revered as a child left an indelible impression and continue to show up in his writing. He understood from a very young age that trees and grasses hold ancient wisdom, embrace us within their roots, and that we exist within an undeniable interconnectedness to all. His childhood home was a renovated barn and he learned early on the whispers of wood grains, copper, and weathered brick.

He has worked odd jobs since he was 15 and each position has offered wisdom that has informed his later pursuits. He has bussed/waited tables at high-end restaurants, given horseback and butterfly tours through the Cloud Forest of Monteverde, worked on an ostrich farm in Cape Point, taught English in Lesotho via the Peace Corps, interned at an agricultural law firm where he saw firsthand the effects of industrial farming, taught college courses at a prestigious east coast university, ran operations and HR at a harm reduction organization, managed a Cuban restaurant in Cape Town, and ran an underground political publication in his undergrad years during the political power grabs in aftermath of 9/11, to name just a few. He continues to learn to live from the truth of inherent abundance and evolve a spiritual awareness that centers interconnectedness and the multi-plane reality of our day-to-day lives.

He studied at University of California Davis, The New School in New York, and the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. His studies ranged from political philosophy to international affairs, anthropology, history of science, sociology, philosophy, art, and critical theory. He continues to learn every chance he gets with a steady stream of podcasts playing and a rotation of at least two books at all times.

In search of authentic found family and earnest community in Brooklyn, New York, in 2011 he founded Nomadic Press, a national award-winning, community-focused non-profit publisher that was in operation until 2023 and headquartered in Oakland, California, with additional nodes in Xalapa, Mexico, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 12 years, they published over 150 titles and hosted thousands of community events all around the US and Mexico.

In 2021, he co founded Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore & Gallery in the heart of the Mission District in San Francisco with Tân Khanh Cáo and Josiah Luis Alderete. In 2022, he stepped away from this project and they continue to run this important community resource with great success.

In 2022, he co founded (with Alejandro Cervantes Jimenéz) Bundo Cafebrería, a café/pizzeria/librería/gallery/community event space in the heart of Xalapa, the capitol of the Mexican state of Veracruz, featuring artwork, writing, and performance from artists from all over Mexico and the world.

In 2023, he founded Public Planter Publishing Podcast & Consultancy, which offers current or potential small publishers the support and tools they need to successfully run a small press and navigate the opaque publishing industry.

In 2023, he also founded Huerto de Osos Perezosos (“Vegetable Patch of the Sloths”), an international retreat center for creative souls based in Xalapa, Mexico.

He has spoken to classrooms and organizations on small publishing and the art of making space all over the nation. Civic engagement is important to him and from 2020–2023, he sat on the City of Oakland's Cultural Affairs Commission (where he spearheaded the launch of the first Oakland Poet Laureate Program in 2021), acted as Co-chair on the board of North Atlantic Books and Secretary on the board of the Oakland Peace Center, and sat on Cogswell College’s English and Humanities Professional Advisory Board.

He has been published in a wide range of publications, including Poets & Writers, KALW, KQED, San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland Magazine, SF Weekly, Oaklandside, Oakland Voices, Datebook SF, Bay Area Reporter, and elsewhere, has performed across California, Egypt, Mexico, and New York, and has been featured in a number of radio shows and online podcasts, including shows on KPFA, KPOO, StoryCorps, and others. He is the recipient of the 2016 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award and continues to travel the world with a Kelpie named Stella.

For three years, he has been working on a book titled Making Space, which is a wide-ranging nuts-and-bolts "how to publish" creative nonfiction text paired with the aesthetic philosophy of literally and figuratively making space on the page and stage.

One day, he will finish.