Tayari Jones
Encyclopedia
Tayari Jones is an African American
author and winner of the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award
for Debut Fiction. She was educated Spelman College
, the University of Iowa
and Arizona State University
.
, where she studied with Pearl Cleage
, who published her first story, "Eugenics", in Catalyst magazine. Jones went on to University of Iowa
where she worked toward a Ph.D. in English, but she left after completing her masters degree. She also studied at The University of Georgia
where she worked with Kevin Young and Judith Ortiz Cofer. She left UGA to enroll in the MFA program at Arizona State University
where she worked with Ron Carlson
and Jewell Parker Rhodes
.
of 1979-81. This novel, which was written while she was a graduate student at Arizona State University
, is based on the experience as a child in Atlanta during that period. It won the 2003 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Debut Fiction. Aletha Spann of 30Nineteen Productions has purchased the film option for Leaving Atlanta. Jones herself, an Atlanta native, was a child during these murders.
Her second novel, The Untelling, is also set in Atlanta. This novel is the story of a woman seeking to overcome the trauma of her past. The book has been described as a "woman's novel" because it deals with issues such as infertility. It was awarded the Lillian C. Smith Award for New Voices.
Silver Sparrow, her third novel, was published by Algonquin Books in 2011. It was an American Booksellers Association's #1 "Indie Next" pick.
Tayari Jones has taught creative writing at The University of Illinois
and also at George Washington University
, where she served as the Jenny McKean Moore Writer in Washington. She is now a member of the MFA faculty at the Newark Campus of Rutgers University
. Her brother is the sports pundit Bomani Jones
.
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
author and winner of the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award
Hurston-Wright Legacy Award
The Hurston-Wright Legacy Award is a literary award given by the National Community of Black Writers.The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award is the first national award given to black American writers. The award namesakes are two of the most influential black authors, Zora Neale Hurston and Richard...
for Debut Fiction. She was educated Spelman College
Spelman College
Spelman College is a four-year liberal arts women's college located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The college is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman was the first historically black female...
, the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
and Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
.
Background
She started writing seriously at Spelman CollegeSpelman College
Spelman College is a four-year liberal arts women's college located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The college is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman was the first historically black female...
, where she studied with Pearl Cleage
Pearl Cleage
Pearl Cleage is an African-American author whose work, both fiction and non-fiction, has been widely recognized. Her novel, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day was a 1998 Oprah’s Book Club selection. Cleage is known for her feminist views, particularly regarding her identity as an...
, who published her first story, "Eugenics", in Catalyst magazine. Jones went on to University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
where she worked toward a Ph.D. in English, but she left after completing her masters degree. She also studied at The University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
where she worked with Kevin Young and Judith Ortiz Cofer. She left UGA to enroll in the MFA program at Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
where she worked with Ron Carlson
Ron Carlson
-Life:Carlson was born in Logan, Utah, and grew up in Salt Lake City. He received a masters degree in English from the University of Utah. He then taught at The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, where he began his first novel....
and Jewell Parker Rhodes
Jewell Parker Rhodes
Jewell Parker Rhodes is an American novelist.Rhodes is professor of Creative Writing and American Literature and former Director of the Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing at Arizona State University. Rhodes is the Artistic Director for Global Engagement and the Piper Endowed Chair of...
.
Writing career
Her first novel, Leaving Atlanta, is a three-voiced coming of age story set against the backdrop of the Atlanta Child MurdersAtlanta child murders
The Atlanta Child Murders, known locally as the "missing and murdered children case", were a series of murders committed in Atlanta, Georgia, United States from the summer of 1979 until the spring of 1981. Over the two-year period, a minimum of twenty-eight African-American children, adolescents...
of 1979-81. This novel, which was written while she was a graduate student at Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
, is based on the experience as a child in Atlanta during that period. It won the 2003 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Debut Fiction. Aletha Spann of 30Nineteen Productions has purchased the film option for Leaving Atlanta. Jones herself, an Atlanta native, was a child during these murders.
Her second novel, The Untelling, is also set in Atlanta. This novel is the story of a woman seeking to overcome the trauma of her past. The book has been described as a "woman's novel" because it deals with issues such as infertility. It was awarded the Lillian C. Smith Award for New Voices.
Silver Sparrow, her third novel, was published by Algonquin Books in 2011. It was an American Booksellers Association's #1 "Indie Next" pick.
Tayari Jones has taught creative writing at The University of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
and also at George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
, where she served as the Jenny McKean Moore Writer in Washington. She is now a member of the MFA faculty at the Newark Campus of Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
. Her brother is the sports pundit Bomani Jones
Bomani Jones
Bomani Jones is the host of "The Morning Jones" on The Score on Sirius radio channel 158. Jones is a regular panelist on Around the Horn and Jim Rome is Burning as well as appearances on Outside the Lines on ESPN and ESPN First Take on ESPN 2. He also periodically writes on Page 2 for...
.
Awards
- Hurston/Wright Award for College Writers (2000)
- Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Debut Fiction (2003)
- Lillian C. Smith Award (2006)
- United States Artists Collins Fellowship (2008)
- Radcliffe Institute Fellowship (2011)
External links
- Official page
- Book & Co. Arizona Public Television (2007 podcast interview with Ron Carlson)
- Symbolism and Cynicism: On Being A Writer During Black History Month (Opinion Essay in The Believer)