Author Biography | Interview | Books by this Author | Readalikes
Edward P. Jones, the New York Times bestselling author, has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize, for fiction, the National Book Critics Circle award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Lannan Literary Award for The Known World; he also received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2004. His first collection of stories, Lost in the City, won the PEN/Hemingway Award and was short listed for the National Book Award. His second collection, All Aunt Hagar's Children, was a finalist for the Pen/Faulkner Award. He has been an instructor of fiction writing at a range of universities, including Princeton. He lives in Washington, D.C.
This bio was last updated on 12/19/2016. We try to keep BookBrowse's biographies both up to date and accurate, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's a tough task. So, please help us - if the information about a particular author is out of date or inaccurate, and you know of a more complete source, please let us know. Authors: If you wish to make changes to your bio, send your complete biography as you would like it displayed so that we can replace the old with the new.
Throughout The Known World, you intersperse your fictional account with historical records and data about Manchester County, Virginia. Are these records factual? What was your intent in incorporating them into your novel?
The county and town of Manchester, Virginia, and every human being in those
places are products of my imagination. Other counties and towns (Amelia
County, Charlottesville, etc.) are real, but were employed merely to give some
heft and believability to the creation of Manchester and its people. The same
is obviously true of real, historical people -- President Fillmore, for
example.
The census records I made up for Manchester were, again, simply to make the
reader feel that the town and the county and the people lived and breathed in
central Virginia once upon a time before the county was "swallowed
up" by surrounding counties. Saying that the census of 1840 shows that
there were so many black people, so many white people there, et cetera,
affords a hard background of numbers and dates that makes the foreground of
the characters and what they go through more real.
How unusual was it for free blacks to serve as slaveholders in the
South? How did the idea come to you to ...
Ifa Bayeza is an award-winning playwright, producer, and conceptual theater artist. Her works for the stage include Amistad Voices, Club Harlem, Kid Zero, Homer G & the Rhapsodies, and The Ballad of Emmett Till, winner of the... (more)
If you enjoyed:
The Known World
Try:
Some Sing, Some Cry
by Ifa Bayeza
Douglas A. Blackmon is the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, and co-executive producer of the acclaimed PBS documentary of the ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
The Known World
Try:
Slavery by Another Name
by Douglas A. Blackmon
We recommend 24 similar authors
Become a Member and discover books that entertain, engage & enlighten!
A brilliant work of historical fiction that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust.
About the book
Happiness
by Heather Harpham
A love story that follows a one-of-a-kind family through twists of fate that require nearly unimaginable choices.
Reader Reviews
The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas
Epic, propulsive, incredibly ambitious, and dazzlingly written--a story about sacrifice and motherhood.
Visitors can view some of BookBrowse for free. Full access is for members only.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends books that we believe to be best in class. Books that will whisk you to faraway places and times, that will expand your mind and challenge you -- the kinds of books you just can't wait to tell your friends about.
Subscribe to receive some of our best reviews, "beyond the book" articles, book club info & giveaways by email.
