[1][2] Jennings was born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1982, the daughter of an Afrikaans mother and an English father; both of her parents were teachers.
[1] As of 2021[update], she is pursuing doctoral work in history at the University of Johannesburg.
[4] She has done post-doctoral research at the Federal University of Goiás, Brazil, on the historical relationship between science and literature, with particular reference to eusocial insects.
[7] Her book An Island, written with support from a Miles Moreland Foundation Writing Scholarship, was longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize.
[8][9] Jennings is married to a Brazilian scientist and lived in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic.