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Tayari Jones

Goodreads Author

Born

in Atlanta, Georgia, The United States

Website

http://www.tayarijones.com/

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Contemporary, Fiction

Member Since

May 2010

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/tayari

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Tayari Jones is the author of the novels Leaving Atlanta, The Untelling, Silver Sparrow, and An American Marriage (Algonquin Books, February 2018). Her writing has appeared in Tin House, The Believer, The New York Times, and Callaloo. A member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, she has also been a recipient of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, Lifetime Achievement Award in Fine Arts from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, United States Artist Fellowship, NEA Fellowship and Radcliffe Institute Bunting Fellowship. Silver Sparrow was named a #1 Indie Next Pick by booksellers in 2011, and the NEA added it to its Big Read Library of classics in 2016. Jones is a graduate of Spelman College, University of Iowa, and Arizona State Univers ...more

462 posts
Tayari Jones's Blog

KIN Published in the UK

“A wise and consuming read about friendship.” – THE TIMES

“Affinity and affection are the touchstones of Jones’s warm, engaging fiction and they are on full display in this wonderful novel… Jones’s writing is conversational, funny and brimful of sympathy for her characters….sisterly friendship glows from the page.” – DAILY MAIL

“A beautifully written novel about fate and sisterhood.” – ECONOMIST

Combine Editions
Tayari Jones’s books

Average rating: 3.95 · 480,040 ratings · 42,866 reviews · 26 distinct works • Similar authors

	An American Marriage 3.93 avg rating — 390,460 ratings — published 2018 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	Silver Sparrow 3.90 avg rating — 46,840 ratings — published 2011 — 48 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	Kin 4.31 avg rating — 17,008 ratings — published 2026 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	Leaving Atlanta 4.05 avg rating — 7,205 ratings — published 2002 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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 Untelling 3.72 avg rating — 4,908 ratings — published 2005 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	Half Light by Tayari Jones (Goodreads Author), Bahni Turpin (Narrator) 3.72 avg rating — 2,513 ratings — published 2020 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	Dispossession by Tayari Jones (Goodreads Author), Gabrielle Union (Narrator) 3.86 avg rating — 1,922 ratings — published 2021 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	Atlanta Noir (Akashic Noir) 3.54 avg rating — 421 ratings — published 2017 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	An American Marriage & Silver Sparrow By Tayari Jones 2 Books Collection Set by Tayari Jones (Goodreads Author) 3.96 avg rating — 78 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	LaKeisha and the Dirty Girl (McSweeney's 28) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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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Tayari is Currently Reading

Tayari Jones is currently reading

Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge: George and Martha Washington's Courageous Slave Who Dared to Run Away; Young Readers Edition

by Erica Armstrong Dunbar

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May 13, 2019 03:32PM

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Tayari’s Recent Updates

Tayari Jones wrote a new blog post KIN Published in the UK “A wise and consuming read about friendship.” – THE TIMES“Affinity and affection are the touchstones of Jones’s warm, engaging fiction and they are on Read more of this blog post »
Apr 02, 2026 12:11AM · 1 like · like

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Quotes by Tayari Jones (?)

“But home isn't where you land; home is where you launch. You can't pick your home any more than you can choose your family. In poker, you get five cards. Three of them you can swap out, but two are yours to keep: family and native land.”
― Tayari Jones, An American Marriage

179 likes

“Much of life is timing and circumstance, I see that now.”
― Tayari Jones, An American Marriage

117 likes

“There should be a word for this, the way it feels to steal something that’s already yours.”
― Tayari Jones, An American Marriage

73 likes

See all Tayari Jones's quotes »

Polls

What shall we read in June, 2020? Books published after 1980

An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones

11 votes 20.8%

Shadow Country, by Peter Matthiessen

10 votes 18.9%

Blackwood, by Michael Farris Smith

9 votes 17.0%

Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns

9 votes 17.0%

The Devil's Dream, by Lee Smith

8 votes 15.1%

Tomorrow's Bread, by Anna Jean Mayhew

6 votes 11.3%

53 total votes

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