Saturday, March 27, 3:00 PM, Zoom
New York Times best-selling author Tayari Jones is the author four novels, including her most recent book, 2018's An American Marriage. Her first novel, Leaving Atlanta, was published in 2002 to critical acclaim, winning the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Debut Fiction. Jones, a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, has also been a recipient of the United States Artist Fellowship, NEA Fellowship and Radcliffe Institute Bunting Fellowship. Her second novel, The Untelling, won the Lillian Smith Book Award, and her third novel, Silver Sparrow, was added to the NEA Big Read Library of classics in 2016. Jones is a graduate of Spelman College, the University of Iowa, and Arizona State University.
Jones will discuss her 2018 novel, An American Marriage, which was an Oprah’s Book Club Selection and appeared on Barack Obama’s summer reading list as well as his end of the year roundup. The novel was awarded the Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly known as the Orange Prize), Aspen Words Prize, and an NAACP Image Award, and it was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction. With over 700,000 copies in print domestically, it has been published in more than two dozen countries. After its publication, Essence magazine called Jones, "one of the most important voices of her generation."
The event is being held in partnership with the DSM Book Festival.
Our moderator for the discussion will be Teree Caldwell-Johnson, the president and CEO of Oakridge Neighborhood in Des Moines, and a member of the Des Moines Public School Board. In addition, she serves on the board of directors for the National Civic League, Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines, Capital Crossroads, Polk County Housing Trust Fund, Planned Parenthood North Central States, and The Directors Council. Teree is the recipient of numerous awards including the Faith and Freedom Community Leader Award in 2018, A Arthur Davis Distinguished Community Leadership Award in 2017, President’s MLK Drum Major for Service Lifetime Volunteer Award, 2014, Iowa African American Museum’s 2010 History Maker, Business Publications 2002 Women of Influence, Black Ministerial Alliance 2002 Leadership Award, Business Record Best Female Business Leader, 2001 and the YWCA 1999 Women of Achievement.
Tayari's Books
- An American Marriage (2018)
- Silver Sparrow (2011)
- The Untelling (2005)
- Leaving Atlanta (2002)
Related Links
- Tayari Jones' 'Exquisitely Intimate' Novel Wins Women's Prize For Fiction (NPR)
- Writing a Feminist Novel With a Man’s Point of View (The Atlantic)
- Talking to Tayari Jones about ‘An American Marriage’ and Oprah (Los Angeles Times)
- If I Can’t Cry, Nobody Cries: An Interview with Tayari Jones (The Paris Review)
- Video: An American Marriage" author talks writing, the argument that inspired her story (CBS This Morning)