Tayari Jones

American writer · United States · On the map · Writers · Born 1970 · age 55

Tayari Jones is an American author and academic known for An American Marriage, which was a 2018 Oprah's Book Club Selection and won the 2019 Women's Prize for Fiction. Jones is a graduate of Spelman College, the University of Iowa, and Arizona State University.

Tayari Jones is read about 223 times a day, in 12 languages.

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A life in dates

2021Guggenheim FellowshipAward2019Women's Prize for FictionAward2018“There’s also very little room for diverse expressions of black female identity. There is a place in society for a black man who comes off as uneducated but street-smart.”In their wordsOn Black female identity in “If I Can’t Cry, Nobody Cries: An Interview with Tayari Jones” in The Paris Review (2018 Feb 8)Read the whole statement

“I’ve always wanted to be a writer…And I have accepted that my niche is this quiet space. I’ve never been one of those writers who says writing is the hardest job in the world.”In their wordsFebruary 2018On accepting herself as a novelist in “INTERVIEWS: Tayari Jones - One couple against the system” in Book Page (February 2018)Read the whole statement

2005Lillian Smith Book AwardAward1970Born30 November 1970

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Tayari Jones

One statement

When I first started writing, I was thinking of it as a book about mass incarceration, and mass incarceration is not a plot. It’s not a story. It’s not a character.
On how she chose the topic of mass incarceration for her novel An American Marriage in “If I Can’t Cry, Nobody Cries: An Interview with, Own words

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Awards

Guggenheim Fellowship2021

Women's Prize for Fiction2019

Lillian Smith Book Award2005

About this person

She is currently a member of the English faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences at Emory University and recently returned to her hometown of Atlanta after a decade in New York City. Jones was Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-large at Cornell University before becoming Charles Howard Candler Professor of Creative Writing at Emory University.

Country

United States

Where to find them

Websitetayarijones.com

The same award as Tayari

Ruth OzekiBoth received Women's Prize for Fiction Rose TremainBoth received Women's Prize for Fiction Carol ShieldsBoth received Women's Prize for Fiction

Helen DunmoreBoth received Women's Prize for Fiction

Kamila ShamsieBoth received Women's Prize for Fiction Andrea LevyBoth received Women's Prize for Fiction