June 13, 2020—”‘I believed I would never catch up’: Bestselling author Tayari Jones reveals the strange magic behind her literary stardom. The literary world is no stranger to fairy tales, but Tayari Jones’s journey from the sidelines to bestselling author beloved of Oprah and Obama is one for the books.”
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An American Marriage Celebrates 20th Foreign Edition
A sampling of some of the foreign editions of An American Marriage.
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New Introduction to The Street by Tayari Jones
“How can a novel’s social criticism be so unflinching and clear, yet its plot moves like a house on fire? I am tempted to describe Petry as a magician for the many ways that The Street amazes, but this description cheapens her talent . . . Petry is a gifted artist.” — Tayari Jones, from the Introduction
The Street follows the spirited Lutie Johnson, a newly single mother whose efforts to claim a share of the American Dream for herself and her young son meet frustration at every turn in 1940s Harlem. Opening a fresh perspective on the realities and challenges of black, female, working-class life, The Street became the first novel by an African American woman to sell more than a million copies.
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Silver Sparrow Published in the U.K.
Silver Sparrow, Tayari Jones’s 2011 novel, has been printed in the U.K. by Oneworld. According to The Guardian, “This book is as moving, intimate and wise as An American Marriage on the topics of marriage, family and womanhood, and deserves similar acclaim.”
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An American Marriage Longlisted for the International DUBLIN Literary Award
An American Marriage is longlisted for the 2020 International DUBLIN Literary Award. Books are nominated for the Award by invited public libraries in cities throughout the world – making the Award unique in its coverage of international fiction. Titles are nominated on the basis of ‘high literary merit’ as determined by the nominating library.
See the 2020 longlist here.
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Bill Gates Chooses An American Marriage
Bill Gates has selected An American Marriage for his favorite books of 2019. “An American Marriage is a deeply moving read about how one incident of injustice reshapes the lives of a black couple in the South,” Gates writes. Though he wouldn’t characterize the novel as a light read, Gates calls it “so well-written that you’ll find yourself sucked into it despite the heavy subject matter.”
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Jones Awarded Charles Howard Candler Professorship at Emory University
The Charles Howard Candler Professorships are awarded to senior scholars who have shown outstanding teaching ability and productive scholarship in one or more fields of learning, and additionally who have distinguished themselves in long and substantial service to the University and in furthering the causes of higher education. Dear Michael Elliot announced Professor Jones’s appointment this afternoon on the campus of Emory University.
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Jones Joins A. A. Knopf for her Fifth Novel
Alfred A. Knopf has acquired world rights to a new novel by Tayari Jones, the bestselling author of An American Marriage, her critically acclaimed fourth book. The new novel, OLD FOURTH WARD, will be published simultaneously in hardcover and ebook by Alfred A. Knopf, and in audio by Penguin Random House. Jordan Pavlin, Vice President and Executive Editor at Knopf, acquired the book from Jane Dystel at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.
“Tayari Jones is a master chronicler of the times we live in,” said Jordan Pavlin, “a sharp, sophisticated and prodigiously gifted novelist whose works overflow with wisdom, compassion, and love. Few writers write more compellingly about family and identity, or with more empathy for her characters. We are thrilled to publish her on the Knopf list.”
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Tayari Jones: A.D. White Professor-at-Large, Cornell University
Tayari Jones has been selected as a Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. She will serve from 2019-2025.
In 1965, the Cornell faculty unanimously recommended, and the Board of Trustees approved, a plan “to revive the office of nonresident professor by appointing as Andrew D. White Professors-at-Large a group of individuals, from both America and abroad, who have achieved high international distinction in the various areas of science and scholarship as well as in the learned professions, public affairs, literature, and the creative arts.” In its interdisciplinary scope, encompassing both knowledge and action, this broadened conception embodies Cornell’s unique qualities as a great university.
At any one time, up to twenty outstanding intellectuals from across the globe hold the title of Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large and are considered full members of the Cornell faculty. During the six-year term of appointment, each Professor-at-Large visits campus for about a week in each three-year period while Cornell classes are in session during the academic year. Currently, the Program sponsors up to six visits by different Professors-at-Large per year.
http://adwhiteprofessors.cornell.edu/announcements/ -
Tayari Jones Wins 2019 Clara Johnson Award
The winner of the 2019 Clara Johnson Award for Women’s Literature is Tayari Jones for her bestselling tour de force An American Marriage. The award was established in 2018 to honor women-authored literature that captures the essence of Johnson in being “groundbreaking, purposeful, bold, excellent, and challenging to social constructs.”
Johnson Award judges were impressed by the literary mastery of Jones’s novel and its rich character development, particularly the fullness of its female characters. Judges also noted the social significance of the work as it examines the impacts of unjust incarceration not only on the incarcerated but also on family and friends.
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An American Marriage longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Fiction
Longlists for four 2019 Orwell Prizes were announced today, including the inaugural Orwell Prize for Political Fiction sponsored by Richard Blair and A. M. Heath, and Orwell Prize for Political Writing lists, marking the 70th anniversary of George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Chair of judges for the Political Fiction Prize, Tom Sutcliffe said:
“I’m delighted with our long-list for the first Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. It’s a list which acknowledges that the politics in a book can often be found between the lines, rather than on them, and that making your voice heard can sometimes be the most political act of all.“
To see the longlist in its entirety, click here.
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Tayari Jones Joins the Faculty of Emory University
Tayari Jones will join Emory University’s renowned Creative Writing Program this fall as a member of the English faculty in Emory College of Arts and Sciences. She will be on sabbatical for the fall semester, but will begin teaching in January 2019. -
An American Marriage Chosen For Oprah’s Book Club
Oprah Winfrey chooses An American Marriage for 2018 Oprah’s Book Club. -
Jones Elected to Georgia Authors Hall of Fame
Five authors comprise the 2018 class of Georgia Writers Hall of Fame inductees: Michael Bishop, Tayari Jones and Cynthia Shearer will be admitted at the November ceremony; Furman Bisher and Frances Newman will be honored posthumously.The Georgia Writers Hall of Fame was established in 2000 as part of the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library to honor Georgia writers and to introduce the public to the library’s rich collections for research into Georgia literature and cultural history.