Tayari Jones

Tayari Jones was born and raised in Atlanta, where she spent most of her childhood with the exception of a year she and her family lived in Nigeria. Although she has not lived in her hometown for more than a decade, much of her writing centers on the urban South. “Although I now live in the Northeast,” she says, “my imagination lives in Atlanta.” Her first novel, “Leaving Atlanta,” is a coming-of-age story set during the city’s infamous child murders of 1979-81. Her second novel, “The Untelling,” is the story of a family struggling to overcome the aftermath of a fatal car accident. “Silver Sparrow” (Workman/Algonquin), her third novel, was one of O Magazine’s “favorite things” for 2011. Jones is a fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Previous National Book Festival Appearances

• 2012