Edward Paul Jones (born October 5, 1950) is an American novelist and short story writer. His 2003 novel ''
The Known World'' received the
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published durin ...
and the
International Dublin Literary Award
The International Dublin Literary Award ( ga, Duais Liteartha Idirnáisiúnta Bhaile Átha Chliath), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. ...
.
Biography
Edward Paul Jones was born and raised in
Washington, D.C. He was educated at
Cardozo High School, the
College of the Holy Cross
The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest in ...
, and the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...
.
His first book, ''
Lost in the City'' (1992), is a collection of short stories about the African-American working class in 20th-century Washington, D.C. In the early stories are some who are like first-generation immigrants, as they have come to the city as part of the
Great Migration from the rural South.
His second book, ''
The Known World'', was set in a fictional Virginia county and had a protagonist who was a mixed-race black planter and
slaveholder. It won the 2004
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published durin ...
and the 2005
International Dublin Literary Award
The International Dublin Literary Award ( ga, Duais Liteartha Idirnáisiúnta Bhaile Átha Chliath), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. ...
.
Jones's third book, ''
All Aunt Hagar's Children
''All Aunt Hagar's Children'' (2006) is a collection of short stories by African-American author Edward P. Jones; it was his first book after winning the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for ''The Known World''. The collection of 14 stories centers on African ...
'', was published in 2006. Like ''Lost in the City'', it is a collection of short stories that deal with African Americans, mostly in Washington, D.C. Several of the stories had been previously published in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' magazine. The stories in the book take up the lives of ancillary characters in ''Lost in the City''. In 2007, it was a finalist for the
PEN/Faulkner Award
The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living American citizens. The winner receives US$15,000 and each of four runners-up receives US$5000. Fi ...
, which was won by
Philip Roth
Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer.
Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...
's ''Everyman''.
The stories of Jones' first and third book are connected. As
Wyatt Mason Wyatt Mason (born 1969) is an American journalist, essayist, critic and translator.
Background and education
Mason was raised in Manhattan. He attended The Fieldston School in New York, the University of Pennsylvania, and also studied literature a ...
wrote in ''
Harper's Magazine
''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...
'' in 2006:
The fourteen stories of ''All Aunt Hagar's Children
''All Aunt Hagar's Children'' (2006) is a collection of short stories by African-American author Edward P. Jones; it was his first book after winning the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for ''The Known World''. The collection of 14 stories centers on African ...
'' revisit not merely the city of Washington but the fourteen stories of ''Lost in the City''. Each new story—and many of them, in their completeness, feel like fully realized little novels—is connected in the same sequence, as if umbilically, to the corresponding story in the first book. Literature is, of course, littered with sequels—its Rabbits and Bechs; its Zuckermans and Kepeshes—but this is not, in the main, Jones’s idea of a reprise. Each revisitation provides a different kind of interplay between the two collections.
Neely Tucker wrote in 2009:
In the spring and fall semesters of 2009, Jones was a visiting professor of creative writing at the
George Washington University
, mottoeng = "God is Our Trust"
, established =
, type = Private federally chartered research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $2.8 billion (2022)
, presi ...
. In fall 2010 he joined the English department faculty to teach creative writing.
Awards and nominations
*1992: Nominated
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
, ''Lost in the City''
*1993: Awarded
PEN/Hemingway Award, ''Lost in the City''
*1994: Awarded
Lannan Literary Award for Fiction
The Lannan Literary Awards are a series of awards and literary fellowships given out in various fields by the Lannan Foundation. Established in 1989, the awards are meant "to honor both established and emerging writers whose work is of exceptional ...
, ''Lost in the City''
*2003: Nominated
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
, ''The Known World''
[
*2003: Awarded National Book Critics Circle Award, ''The Known World''
*2004: Awarded ]Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published durin ...
, ''The Known World''
*2005: Awarded International Dublin Literary Award
The International Dublin Literary Award ( ga, Duais Liteartha Idirnáisiúnta Bhaile Átha Chliath), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. ...
, ''The Known World''
*2005: Awarded MacArthur Fellowship
The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...
*2007: Nominated PEN/Faulkner Award
The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living American citizens. The winner receives US$15,000 and each of four runners-up receives US$5000. Fi ...
, ''All Aunt Hagar's Children''
*2010: Awarded PEN/Malamud Award for excellence in the art of the short story
Bibliography
*'' Lost in the City'' (1992)
*'' The Known World'' (2003)
*''All Aunt Hagar's Children
''All Aunt Hagar's Children'' (2006) is a collection of short stories by African-American author Edward P. Jones; it was his first book after winning the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for ''The Known World''. The collection of 14 stories centers on African ...
'' (2006)
Notes
External links
Publisher's official page
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Edward P.
1950 births
Living people
21st-century American novelists
20th-century American novelists
College of the Holy Cross alumni
George Washington University faculty
MacArthur Fellows
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners
PEN/Malamud Award winners
Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award winners
University of Virginia alumni
Writers from Washington, D.C.
American male novelists
African-American short story writers
American male short story writers
20th-century American short story writers
21st-century American short story writers
African-American novelists
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
O. Henry Award winners
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters