Kima Jones facts for kids

Kima Jones is an American writer, poet, and literary publicist. She started Jack Jones Literary Arts, a company that helps authors share their books with the world.

Kima Jones's Early Life and Learning

Kima Jones was born around 1982 in Harlem, New York. She grew up in the Sugar Hill area of Harlem. She was the oldest of eight children in her family.

From a young age, Kima loved to write. She won a poetry contest when she was in elementary school. This allowed her to read her poetry at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. She even read alongside a famous children's author, Walter Dean Myers.

During this time, Kima lived in foster care for a while. When she was 12, she reunited with her family. They moved to Poughkeepsie, New York. Her mother and stepfather really encouraged her to read. Her stepfather, a professor at Marist College, gave her many of his extra books. One of these books was Black-Eyed Susans and Midnight Birds. It was a collection of stories by and about Black women. Kima read the whole book. Then, she used the book's index to find more books to read.

Kima went to Dutchess Community College. Later, she attended Sarah Lawrence College. However, she left college before finishing her degree.

Kima Jones's Career Journey

Kima Jones moved to Los Angeles, California, in 2013. She received a special fellowship from PEN Center USA. This fellowship helps new writers.

In 2015, Kima started her own company, Jack Jones Literary Arts. This company helps authors get their books noticed. Kima focuses on working with writers who have not always had their voices heard. Many of her clients are writers of color. Kima has shared that growing up as a Black girl from Harlem, books by authors like Sandra Cisneros and Toni Morrison were very important to her.

Her first two clients were authors Tananarive Due and Dolen Perkins-Valdez. Since then, her company has worked with many successful writers.

• She helped promote Tyehimba Jess's poetry book, Olio. This book later won the Pulitzer Prize!
• She worked with Angie Thomas on her popular young adult novel, The Hate U Give.
• She also represented Rion Amilcar Scott for his book Insurrections.
• And Desiree Cooper for her book Know the Mother.

Jack Jones Literary Arts also hosts a special event each year. It's a writing retreat just for women of color.

Awards and Recognitions

Kima Jones has received several important fellowships. These include:

• The MacDowell fellowship.
• The Yaddo fellowship.
• The Lambda Literary fellowship.

She has also contributed to several books:

• In 2014, she wrote for Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History.
• In 2018, she contributed to Roxane Gay's online collection Unruly Bodies.
• Her poem "Homegoing AD" was published in Jesmyn Ward's book The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race. This poem was also included in The Best American Non-Required Reading 2017.

In 2018, Kima Jones was named to The Root 100. This is a list by The Root magazine. It highlights the most influential African Americans between ages 25 and 45.

In 2021, Kima joined Triangle House Literary as a literary agent. This means she helps authors find publishers for their books.

In 2020, it was announced that the publisher Knopf bought Kima Jones's first memoir. A memoir is a book about a person's own life. Her book is called Butch. It is planned to be released in the fall of 2023. In 2022, she also received the Granum Foundation Prize.