Tayari's Blog: Who Did You Say You Were?

Posted by TayariJones on March 4, 2006 08:01 AM
Filed under The Writing Life

Kevin Kinsella, has written a sort of funny essay about how he goes about writing his short author bio that appears at the end of his articles or in the contributor's notes at the back of a literary magazine. (Via Maud.)

I had to chuckle, as I have spent a lot of worrying over mine in the past. It's a fine line-- you want to give enough information so that everyone knows how fabulous you are, without seeming too desperate to seem fabulous.

Here are my rules of thumb:

Don't list residencies. No matter how happy you were to find out that you had FINALLY been accepted to Yaddo, don't put it on your bio. It's not that much of an accomplishment. The food is great, the mansion is plush and a little bit haunted. Let that be reward enough.

Only list the highest acheivement in each category. If you've won an NEA, there is no need to list the state grants. If you've gotten a fellowship to Breadloaf, forget that scholarship to Sewannee. (And after two years, any summer camp type thingie should just quietly fall off the bio sketch.)

Works in progress? Don't mention them. It will only bite you in the butt later, when people keep asking about it.

I think you can mention up to three books you've written or edited. Maybe four. But that's it.

If you get a big giant prize like a Pulitzer or National Book Award, I think that's all you have to say. Edward P. Jones is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize. (nuff said)

As for me,I keep my bio sketch pretty pared down. Tayari Jones is the author of the novels Leaving Atlanta and The Untelling. I am hoping that people will infer that I have all manner of impressive accolades that I am just too modest to mention.

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There are 1 comments on "Who Did You Say You Were?". If you'd like to leave a comment, click here to jump down to the comments entry form.

Comment #1, by Curly [TypeKey Profile Page]

I've always liked Octavia Butler's. She disarms you with personal-quirky-self-deprecating comments, then BLAM! all the novels and awards.


"I'm a 53-year-old writer who can remember being a 10-year-old writer and who expects someday to be an 80-year-old writer. I'm also comfortably asocial — a hermit in the middle of Seattle — a pessimist if I'm not careful, a feminist, a Black, a former Baptist, an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, and drive.

I've had eleven novels published so far: Patternmaster, Mind of my Mind, Survivor, Kindred, Wild Seed, Clay's Ark, Dawn, Adulthood Rites, Imago, Parable of the Sower, and Parable of the Talents as well as a collection of my shorter work, entitled Bloodchild. I've also had short stories published in anthologies and magazines. One, "Speech Sounds," won a Hugo Award as best short story of 1984. Another, "Bloodchild," won both the 1985 Hugo and the 1984 Nebula awards as best novelette. My most recent novel Parable of the Talents won the 1999 Nebula for Best Novel"

March 4, 2006 10:53 AM

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