Tayari Jones has been selected as the recipient of the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award in Fine Arts from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. Professor Jones teaches in the master of fine arts program at the Newark campus of Rutgers University. She spent the past academic year as a Bunting scholar at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study. Previously she taught at Prairie View A&M University, East Tennessee State University, the University of Illinois and George Washington University.
Professor Jones won the Hurston/Wright Award for Debut Fiction in 2003 for her novel Leaving Atlanta. Her second novel, The Untelling, won Lillian C. Smith Award for New Voices. Her latest novel, Silver Sparrow, appeared on several “Best Books” lists for 2011.
Tayari Jones is a graduate of Spelman College. She earned a master’s degree at the University of Iowa and a master of fine arts degree from Arizona State University.