Gayl Jones facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Gayl Jones
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Jones in 1971
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| Born | Gayl Carolyn Jones November 23, 1949 Lexington, Kentucky, U.S. |
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| Education | Connecticut College (BA) Brown University (MA, DArts) |
| Genre | African-American literature |
| Notable works | Corregidora (1975) Eva's Man (1976) The Healing (1998) Palmares (2021) |
Gayl Carolyn Jones (born November 23, 1949) is an American writer from Lexington, Kentucky. She is a very important author in 20th-century African-American literature.
Jones published her first novel, Corregidora, in 1975. She was only 25 years old. The famous author Toni Morrison helped edit the book. Many important thinkers like James Baldwin and John Updike praised it.
Her next novel, Eva's Man, was not as well known. Jones continued writing in the late 1990s. She released The Healing and Mosquito. The Healing was even nominated for a big award, the National Book Award.
After a personal loss in 1998, Jones became more private. In 2021, she published Palmares. This was her first novel in 22 years. It was a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Many people think Gayl Jones is an amazing writer. Imani Perry called her "one of the most versatile and transformative writers of the 20th century." Calvin Baker said she was "The Best American Novelist Whose Name You May Not Know." Yara Rodrigues Fowler wrote that Jones has "reimagined the lives of Black women" in her books.
Contents
Growing Up and School
Gayl Jones was born on November 23, 1949. Her parents were Franklin and Lucille Jones. Her father was a cook, and her mother was a homemaker and writer. Gayl grew up in Lexington, Kentucky.
Her family loved telling stories. Her grandmother wrote plays for her church. Her mother often made up stories for Gayl and her brother. Gayl remembered, "I began to write when I was seven." She saw her mother writing and heard her mother's stories.
Gayl was a very shy child. But her teachers noticed her writing skills. They encouraged her to keep writing.
High School and College Years
Jones first went to schools that were separated by race. For high school, she attended Henry Clay High School. She was one of the few Black students there. She did very well in her studies.
A writer named Elizabeth Hardwick helped her get into Connecticut College. There, she studied with poets William Meredith and Robert Hayden. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1971. She also won an award for her fiction writing.
After college, she went to Brown University for graduate school. She studied creative writing with poet Michael Harper. She earned her Master of Arts degree in 1973 and her Doctor of Arts degree in 1975.
Her Writing Career
Gayl Jones's teacher, Michael Harper, showed her work to author Toni Morrison. Morrison was an editor at Random House. She was very impressed by Jones's writing. Morrison said that after reading Jones's book, "no novel about any black woman could ever be the same."
In 1975, Jones published her first novel, Corregidora. She was 26 years old. That same year, she taught at the University of Michigan. The university hired her as a professor the next year.
She left her teaching job in 1983. She moved to Europe. There, she wrote and published Die Vogelfaengerin (The Birdwatcher) in Germany. She also released a book of poems called Xarque and Other Poems. Her work has appeared in many collections of writings by Black women.
Later Works and Style
Jones's 1998 novel The Healing was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her writings are kept at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University. Gayl Jones still lives in Lexington, Kentucky, and continues to write.
Jones has said that she is like an "improvisor." This means she takes a few main ideas and explores them in many different ways. It is like a jazz or blues musician who plays with a set of musical themes.
Awards and Special Recognition
Gayl Jones has received many honors for her writing.
- Her novel Palmares (2021) was a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. This book is about communities formed by Africans who escaped slavery in Brazil.
- The Healing was a finalist for the National Book Award for fiction in 1998.
- In 2022, Jones received a lifetime achievement award at the 43rd American Book Awards. This award honored her entire career.
- Her novel, The Birdcatcher, was a finalist for the National Book Award for fiction in 2022.
Her Private Life
While studying at the University of Michigan, Gayl Jones met Robert Higgins. He later became her husband.
After Higgins's death in 1998, Jones became very private. She mostly talks only to her family and her former teacher, Michael Harper. She has not given many interviews since then. Before this, Jones had given several interviews about her work.
See also
- African-American literature
