Gayl Jones is an African American writer from Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...

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Early life

After earning the Frances Steloff Award for Fiction while attending Connecticut College

Connecticut College

Connecticut College is a private liberal arts college located in New London, Connecticut.The college was founded in 1911, as Connecticut College for Women, in response to Wesleyan University closing its doors to women...

, Jones graduated with a Masters in creative writing

Creative writing

Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...

 at Brown University

Brown University

Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

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Career

The same year, she published her first book Corregidora. She was Associate Professor at the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

. Ever since leaving that post, Jones has kept her life private in order to concentrate on her writing. Her papers are currently housed at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University

Boston University

Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...

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Fiction

• Corregidora (novel) (1975)
• Eva's Man (novel) (1976)
• White Rat (short stories) (1977)
• The Healing (novel) (1998)
• Mosquito (novel) (1999)

Poetry collections

• Song for Anninho (1981)
• The Hermit-Woman (1983)
• Xarque and Other Poems (1985)

Other works

• Chile Woman (play) (1974)
• Liberating Voices: Oral Tradition in African American Literature (criticism) (1991)

See also

• African-American literature