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Joshilyn Jackson

Goodreads author profile

born

The United States

gender

female

website

http://www.joshilynjackson.com/ftk/

twitter username

joshilynjackson

genre

Literature & Fiction

member since

July 2010

About this author

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SHORT VERSION:

Jackson's latest novel, SOMEONE ELSE'S LOVE STORY, pubs on November 19, 2013!

New York Times Bestselling novelist Joshilyn Jackson is the author of six novels: gods in Alabama, Between, Georgia, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, Backseat Saints, A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty, and most recently, SOMEONE ELSE'S LOVE STORY. Her books have been translated into a dozen languages, won SIBA’s novel of the year, twice been a #1 Book Sense Pick, and twice been shortlisted for the Townsend prize. A former actor, Jackson reads the audio versions of her novels; her work in this field has been nominated for the Audie Award, was selected by AudioFile Magazine for their best of the year list, and garnered two Listen Up Awards from Publisher’s Weekl...more SHORT VERSION:

Jackson's latest novel, SOMEONE ELSE'S LOVE STORY, pubs on November 19, 2013!

New York Times Bestselling novelist Joshilyn Jackson is the author of six novels: gods in Alabama, Between, Georgia, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, Backseat Saints, A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty, and most recently, SOMEONE ELSE'S LOVE STORY. Her books have been translated into a dozen languages, won SIBA’s novel of the year, twice been a #1 Book Sense Pick, and twice been shortlisted for the Townsend prize. A former actor, Jackson reads the audio versions of her novels; her work in this field has been nominated for the Audie Award, was selected by AudioFile Magazine for their best of the year list, and garnered two Listen Up Awards from Publisher’s Weekly.

She is hard at work on a new novel expected in 2015.

She lives in Decatur, Georgia with her husband, their two children, and way too many feckless animals. She

LONG VERSION:

Joshilyn Jackson was born by the sugar white beaches of Florida’s Redneck Riviera and raised by a tribe of wild fundamentalists who taught her to be virtuous and upright. Unfortunately, it didn’t take, and Ms. Jackson dropped out of college to pursue a career as an actor. She worked in regional repertoire, wrote plays, and traveled the southern third of the country with a dinner theatre troupe.

She decided both virtue and an education were worth the work, so she went back to college to study English literature, focusing on Modern and Medieval Theater. She graduated with honors from Georgia State. She fell for the hometown guy who’d been her best friend since she was a teenager and followed him north, braving Chicago’s winters to marry him. She recovered from a near-terminal case of culture shock in time to earn her MA in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Jackson spent seven years in as a southern ex-pat in Illinois, working with various theatre groups as an actor and playwright and selling short fiction to literary magazines and anthologies such as Calyx and TriQuarterly. She also taught English at UIC, trying to explain the function of the gerund and why Waiting for Godot is a great play to crowds of hung-over 18 year olds. In her first year of teaching, she won the Student’s Choice Award for Best English Instructor.

Motherhood made her homesick, and in 1998 she moved back to the South to teach part time, raise kids full time, and try her hand at writing novels in her copious spare time (read: every day from 4 am ‘til the baby woke up.) She’s been a full time novelist since gods in Alabama sold at auction in 2005, but Jackson’s teaching experience and theatre background have both come in handy. She enjoys reading the audio versions of her novels, and she’s been on faculty of writing workshops all over the country and enjoys speaking at book festivals, libraries and literary events. She occasionally teaches a creative writing class, most recently at Vermont College of Fine Arts and Emory University.

She currently lives in Decatur with her husband Scott and their two kids, Sam and Maisy Jane. They share space with Bagel the hound dog, Ansley the small auxiliary dog, and Mango, a huge yellow tom. Their outsize aquarium has, over the years, hosted a pair of brother gerbils who turned out to be an incestuous brother-sister baby factory, tadpoles who turned out to be mosquito larvae, more tadpoles who turned out to be newt larvae, caterpillars who turned out to be verminous hairy tent worms, and an egg sack that recently hatched out several zillion cannibalizing mantises who are now living in the back garden. This crew is often supplemented by stray beasts of all stripes seeking permanent homes.(less)

345 posts
Joshilyn Jackson's Blog

3Q with Trisha Slay (And a Prize Drawing!)

HEY! Remember 3Q’s? Where a writer would drop by for a visit, answer 3 questions, and if the book sounded like something up your alley, you could leave a comment to be entered in a contest to win a FREE SIGNED COPY?

Well—looks like we are doing that again. Cool, eh?

I first met Trisha Slay 3 or 4 years ago. Maybe more. I am not all that grounded in time and space….but I DO know Where. We were at...

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Joshilyn Jackson's Books

Average rating: 3.76 · 32,324 ratings · 4,781 reviews · 7 distinct works · Similar authors

	gods in Alabama 3.81 of 5 stars 3.81 avg rating — 8,880 ratings — published 2005 — 26 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty 3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 avg rating — 7,332 ratings — published 2012 — 11 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Between, Georgia 3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 avg rating — 6,106 ratings — published 2006 — 21 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Girl Who Stopped Swimming 3.38 of 5 stars 3.38 avg rating — 5,674 ratings — published 2008 — 21 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Backseat Saints 3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 avg rating — 4,313 ratings — published 2010 — 9 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Someone Else's Love Story: A Novel 4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 avg rating — 11 ratings — expected publication 2013 — 5 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Unti Joshilyn Jackson E-novella 0.0 of 5 stars 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — expected publication 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer (Goodreads Author), Joshilyn Jackson (Goodreads Author) (Narrator) 3.56 of 5 stars 3.56 avg rating — 2,580 ratings — published 2012 — 14 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Joshilyn is Currently Reading

Joshilyn Jackson is currently reading

Tell the Wolves I'm Home

by Carol Rifka Brunt (Goodreads Author)

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Dec 06, 2012 11:14am

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Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale

by Lynda Rutledge (Goodreads Author)

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Nov 29, 2012 04:44am

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So Much Pretty

by Cara Hoffman (Goodreads Author)

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Oct 23, 2012 10:09am

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Joshilyn's Recent Updates

Joshilyn Jackson wrote a new blog post 3Q with Trisha Slay (And a Prize Drawing!) HEY! Remember 3Q’s? Where a writer would drop by for a visit, answer 3 questions, and if the book sounded like something up your alley, you could... Read more of this blog post »
17 hours, 38 min ago · like
Joshilyn Jackson added Someone Else's Love Story: A Novel by Joshilyn Jackson (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 26, 2013 12:21pm
Joshilyn Jackson made a comment on Marisa De's recommendation of The Comfort of Lies to Joshilyn Jackson "ALready read it -- Randy Susan Meyers is SUCH a talent."
Feb 13, 2013 01:29pm
Joshilyn Jackson rated a book 5 of 5 stars The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 11, 2013 08:50am
Joshilyn Jackson is currently reading Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 06, 2012 11:14am
Joshilyn Jackson is currently reading Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale by Lynda Rutledge (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 29, 2012 04:44am
Joshilyn Jackson rated a book 5 of 5 stars Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 29, 2012 04:40am
Joshilyn Jackson rated a book 5 of 5 stars A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 24, 2012 04:27am
Joshilyn Jackson rated a book 5 of 5 stars I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 23, 2012 10:21am
Joshilyn Jackson rated a book 5 of 5 stars Come Closer by Sara Gran (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 23, 2012 10:18am

More of Joshilyn's books…

Quotes by Joshilyn Jackson

“There are gods in Alabama: Jack Daniel's, high school quarterbacks, trucks, big tits, and also Jesus.”
― Joshilyn Jackson, gods in Alabama

tags: alabama, first-sentence, opening-lines

86 people liked it

“God gave us crying so other folks could see when we needed help, and help us.”
― Joshilyn Jackson, gods in Alabama

tags: cry, crying, god, help

52 people liked it

“I had been born and mostly raised in the South, so I ought to have been able to find a way to reach him. Southern girls are trained from birth up that the way to a man's heart is never through the front door. They may leave a basket of cookies there, and while he's busy picking them up, they're squirming in through a back window.”
― Joshilyn Jackson, gods in Alabama

24 people liked it

See all Joshilyn Jackson's quotes »

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