Jewell Parker Rhodes

Jewell Parker Rhodes
Born Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Occupation Novelist, professor
Alma mater Carnegie Mellon University
Website
jewellparkerrhodes.com

Jewell Parker Rhodes (born 1954 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American bestselling novelist and educator.

Rhodes is the author of five middle grade novels, including the New York Times bestseller and #1 Kids' Indie Best Pick Ghost Boys, as well as Towers Falling, Ninth Ward, Sugar, and Bayou Magic. Rhodes has published six novels for adults, including Voodoo Dreams, the Marie Laveau trilogy, and the American Book Award winner Douglass' Women, as well as two writing guides and a memoir.[1]

Rhodes is the Founding Artistic Director and the Piper Endowed Chair of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University. She is also a professor of Creative Writing and American Literature and the former Director of the Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing.[2]

Life

Rhodes was born and raised in Manchester, a largely African-American neighborhood on the North Side of Pittsburgh. As a child, she was a voracious reader. She began college as a dance major, but switched to writing when she discovered African-American literature for the first time.[3] She received a Bachelor of Arts in Drama Criticism, a Master of Arts in English, and a Doctor of Arts in English (Creative Writing) from Carnegie Mellon University.

Her work has been published in China, Korea, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Turkey, and the United Kingdom and reproduced in audio and for NPR's "Selected Shorts."[2] She has been a featured speaker at the Runnymeade International Literary Festival (University of London-Royal Holloway), Santa Barbara Writers Conference, Creative Nonfiction Writers Conference and Warwick University, among others.

Her recent fiction and essays have been anthologized in Rise Up Singing: Black Women Writers on Motherhood (ed., Berry), In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction (ed. Gutkind), Gumbo (ed., Golden and Harris), and Children of the Night: Best Short Stories By Black Writers (ed., Naylor), among others.

Bibliography

Middle Grade Novels

  • Ninth Ward (2010)
  • Sugar (2014)
  • Bayou Magic (2015)
  • Towers Falling (2016)
  • Ghost Boys (2018)[4]

Adult Novels

  • Voodoo Dreams (1993)
  • Magic City (1997)
  • Douglass' Women (2002)
  • Season (Formerly Voodoo Season) (2005)
  • Moon (Formerly Yellow Moon) (2008)
  • Hurricane (2011)[1]

Nonfiction

  • Free Within Ourselves: Fiction Lessons for Black Authors (1999)
  • The African American Guide to Writing and Publishing Non-Fiction (2001)
  • Porch Stories: A Grandmother's Guide to Happiness (2006)[1]

Awards

Writing

Teaching

Jewell Parker Rhodes has been awarded the California State University Distinguished Teaching Award, ASU's Dean's Quality Teaching Award, Outstanding Thesis Director from the Barrett Honors College, and the Outstanding Faculty Award from the College of Extended Education. She is a member of the Arizona/International Women's Forum and a Renaissance Weekend invitee.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Books | Jewell Parker Rhodes". jewellparkerrhodes.com. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
  2. 1 2 "Staff - The Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing". Retrieved 2015-09-18.
  3. ↑ "Author Interview: Jewell Parker Rhodes". Teen Writers Bloc. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
  4. ↑ "Books - Jewell Parker Rhodes: Children's Books". Retrieved 2015-09-18.
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