Saeed Jones (born November 26, 1985) is an American writer and poet. His debut collection '' Prelude to Bruise'' was named a 2014 finalist for the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".How We Fight for Our Lives ''How We Fight for Our Lives'' is a coming-of-age memoir written by American author Saeed Jones and published by Simon & Schuster in 2019. The story follows Jones as a young, black, gay man in 1990s Lewisville, Texas as he fights to carve out a p ...

'' won the

Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction The Kirkus Prize is an American literary award conferred by the book review magazine ''Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine ...

in 2019.

Early life

Jones was born in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...

and grew up in

Lewisville, Texas Lewisville ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, predominantly within Denton County with a small part lying within Dallas County. As a suburban community within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the 2020 census tabulated a population of 1 ...

. He attended college at

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glasgow, Elizabet ...

, then earned an MFA in

Creative Writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literar ...

at Rutgers University–Newark.

Career

Poetry

Jones released his debut poetry

chapbook A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch. In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookl ...

in 2011. Titled ''When the Only Light is Fire,'' it was the top-selling book in the Gay Poetry category on Amazon for several weeks. In 2014, Jones published his first full-length poetry collection, '' Prelude to Bruise.'' NPR called it "brilliant, unsparing," "visceral and affecting." ''

The Kenyon Review ''The Kenyon Review'' is a literary magazine based in Gambier, Ohio, United States, US, home of Kenyon College. ''The Review'' was founded in 1939 by John Crowe Ransom, critic and professor of English at Kenyon College, who served as its editor ...

'' said the work "evokes a perilous, often mythic, eroticism within a brutalizing context of violence." ''

TIME Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on M ...

'' recommended it as "an engrossing read best consumed in as few sittings as possible." It was a 2014 finalist for the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors ar ...

, the Joyce Osterwell Award for Poetry from the

PEN Literary Awards This is a list of awards sponsored by International PEN centres. There are over 145 PEN centres on the world, some of which hold annual literary awards. The PEN American Center awards have been characterized as being among the "major" literary awa ...

, and the Stonewall Book Award-Barbara Gittings Award for Literature, and a nominee for the 2014 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry. Jones has been featured on ''

PBS NewsHour ''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening news broadcasting#television, television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS Network affiliate#Member stations, member stations. It airs seven nights a week, and is known for its in-depth coverage of i ...

''s poetry series and on ''So Popular! with Janet Mock'' on

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politic ...

. He was featured on the cover of '' Hello Mr.'' in 2015.

Prose and other projects

Jones previously worked for

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. ...

as the founding LGBT editor and its executive culture editor. While at BuzzFeed, Jones cohosted BuzzFeed New's morning show ''AM to DM'' from fall 2017 until mid-2019. Jones also wrote an advice column for BuzzFeed's ''READER'' newsletter entitled "Dear Ferocity." His memoir ''

How We Fight for Our Lives ''How We Fight for Our Lives'' is a coming-of-age memoir written by American author Saeed Jones and published by Simon & Schuster in 2019. The story follows Jones as a young, black, gay man in 1990s Lewisville, Texas as he fights to carve out a p ...

'' was published by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pub ...

in 2019.

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...

called the book's tone and content "urgent, immediate, matter of fact". NPR called it an "outstanding memoir" with "elements that profoundly connect him to poetry" and to "many of us who grew up dreaming of a chance at upward social mobility". The book won the

in 2019 and a

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted ...

in 2020. In 2022, Jones's interview with Debbie Millman was featured on the Storybound (podcast) season 5 premiere. Jones is one of the hosts of the Vibe Check podcast.

Personal life

Jones lives in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...

. Jones was brought up to practice

Nichiren Buddhism Nichiren Buddhism ( ja, 日蓮仏教), also known as Hokkeshū ( ja, 法華宗, meaning ''Lotus Sect'') is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–1282) and is one o ...

and still does today.

Bibliography

Poetry collections

*''When the Only Light is Fire''. Sibling Rivalry Press, 2011. *'' Prelude to Bruise''. Coffee House Press, 2014. * In Anthology *''Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology''. University of Georgia Press, 2018.

Memoir

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Saeed 21st-century American poets African-American poets American advice columnists American male poets American gay writers LGBT African Americans American LGBT poets Living people People from Lewisville, Texas Poets from New York (state) Poets from Tennessee Poets from Texas Rutgers University alumni Western Kentucky University alumni Writers from Memphis, Tennessee Writers from New York City 1985 births 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers Kirkus Prize winners Lambda Literary Award winners Stonewall Book Award winners 21st-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American people