Jarred P. McGinnis (born ) is an American-born writer based in the United Kingdom. In 2021, he was named as one of the best 10 emerging writers from the UK by ''The Guardian''.

Early life and education

McGinnis grew up in Siesta Key,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, United States. While studying at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, he had a car accident the day before his 21st birthday, causing a spinal cord injury, resulting in paraplegia and the loss of the use of his legs. Before the accident McGinnis wanted to study screenwriting, but he turned to computer science when he realized the need for a job and health insurance due to his disability. After graduating from the UT, McGinnis enrolled for the PhD program at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, and worked under Professor Dave Robertson and earned his PhD in Computer Science on Artificial Intelligence. The title of his doctoral thesis was: ''On the Mutability of Protocols''.

Writing career

His debut novel ''The Coward'' was selected for

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

's '' Between The Covers'' and

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

's ''Book Club'' programs and was long-listed for the Barbellion Prize. Translated into French as ''Le Lâche'' it won the "foreign books" category of the

Prix du Premier Roman The Prix du Premier Roman (''debut novel, First Novel Prize'') is a French literary prize awarded to an unpublished novelist between the ages of 18 and 30. The monetary reward is 3,000 Euros. The prize was first awarded in 1977. Starting with 1 ...

(First Novel prize). and was nominated for the prestigious

Femina prize The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine '' La Vie heureuse'' (today known as '' Femina''). The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury. They reward French-language works written ...

. ''The Coward'' is an

autofiction In literary criticism, autofiction is a form of fictionalized autobiography. Autofiction combines two mutually inconsistent narrative forms, namely autobiography and fiction. An author may decide to recount their life in the third person, to mod ...

that blends his own experiences, although he has said that he has "tried not to use the term auto-fiction", and has used the term "livre vecu". His next writing project is ''The Mountain Weight'', which "mines his family’s history, from the American Civil War to the present day, to examine themes of masculinity, family and migration" and for which he was awarded the 2023 Eccles Centre & Hay Festival Writer's Award.

Selected publications

Books

Short stories

* * *

Other writings

* * Introduction to:

Awards

McGinnis was awarded the 2023 Eccles Centre & Hay Festival Writer's award for his work on ''The Mountain Weight'', the other winner being Ayanna Lloyd Banwo. His first novel's French edition has won the

(First Novel prize).

Other activities

He is the co-founder of ''The Special Relationship'', described as "the polymath of literary evenings", which was chosen for the British Council's International Literature Showcase. He was the creative director for ''Moby-Dick Unabridged'', a four-day immersive multimedia reading of

Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American people, American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his bes ...

's '' Moby-Dick'' at the

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...

, involving hundreds of participants.

Personal life

McGinnis is married to Sarah, who dropped out of college for a year to care for him after his accident. They both graduated from the University of Texas, and moved together first to Edinburgh, then to London. They have two daughters. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

they made the decision to move to

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

, France.

References

External links

*
BBC 2's Between The Covers
- episode discussing Jarred's debut book
Monocle Interview with Georgina Goodwin
- at Meet the Writers
Jarred McGinnis Reconstruction
- Featured Interview in Rolling Stone France, July 2023
Interview with Percival Everette
- The White Review
Writing is the only magic I still believe in
- Jarred McGinnis on TEDxEaling {{DEFAULTSORT:McGinnis, Jarred Year of birth missing (living people) 1970s births Living people American writers with disabilities American writers British writers Writers from New Mexico University of Texas at Austin alumni Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People with paraplegia