Tayari Jones: A Best-selling Novelist Teaches Creativity

Tayari Jones is a best-selling author, whose acclaimed novels explore the human condition with depth and compassion. Her works ask fundamental questions about identity, family, and America, and they have riveted readers around the world. Tayari is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Creative Writing at Emory University, where since 2018, she has taught and mentored undergraduate students of all skill levels.  In this episode, Emory University President Greg Fenves talks with Tayari about teaching, and why, of the many options available to her, she finds that working with undergraduate students and unlocking their creativity allows her to have the greatest impact as a professor. 

Related Articles

• "Atlanta native, author Tayari Jones joins faculty of Emory University" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 4/15/2018)
• 'SisterWriters' Tayari Jones, Pearl Cleage share their literary friendship in Emory talk (Emory News, 10/2/2018)
• "Emory professor, novelist Tayari Jones wins NAACP Image Award" (Emory News, 4/1/2019)
• "Tayari Jones' 'Exquisitely Intimate' Novel Wins Women's Prize For Fiction" (NPR, 6/5/2019)

Related Resources

• Creative Writing Program at Emory University
• Georgia Writers Hall of Fame: Tayari Jones
• Tayari Jones Official Web Site
• TIME: Article by Tayari Jones
• Women's Prize for Fiction 2019: An American Marriage (Tayari Jones)