Anita Gail Jones
Anita Gail Jones is a visual artist, professional storyteller and writer, born and raised in Albany, Georgia and lives in Northern California.
Anita’s debut novel, The Peach Seed, set in southwest Georgia, was a 2021 Top Ten Finalist in the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. Retha Powers at Henry Holt & Company acquired World rights from Steve Ross at Steve Ross Agency in a two-book deal.
Anita and her husband, Rob Roehrick, founded Gaines-Jones Scholars, a public charity awarding need-based college scholarships to Black students in southwest Georgia and the San Francisco Bay Area in memory of her mother, sister, and father.
Literary representation: Steve Ross, Steve Ross Agency.
Order The Peach Seed Paperback!
Paperback released: July 30th, 2024
Also available:
Hardcover, Ebook &
Audiobook (Narrated by Anita)
Henry Holt & Company (August, 2023)
“The Peach Seed is propulsive, yet thoughtful; sweeping but intricate; a tribute to the African American experience that captures its vastness and depth. Jones is an indispensable addition to the canon of Southern literature.“
Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, award-winning author of The Revisioners and On the Rooftop
Had the pleasure of meeting Jonathan at the Sonoma Valley Authors Festival back in April. His book, King: A Life won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. Join us for a brisk, insightful discussion of The Peach Seed. ONLINE. On Sept 5th, go HERE to watch.
Thank you Savannah State University Honors Program for hosting my Author Talk on The Peach Seed, storytelling and more during the Savannah Black Heritage Festival, and to Keleigh Arrington for creating this wonderful video from the event!
Recent Events
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On a well-deserved break. Here’s where I’ve been recently:
📚 Tues. October 8, 2024 ~ ONLINE ONLY
Making Biscuits & Talking Books
12PM PT | 3PM ET
An exclusive Drop Biscuit Virtual Cook-in! Anita’s first in a limited series exploring the intersection of words and food in storytelling.
Special guest author will be Charmaine Wilkerson, author of Black Cake (2022, Random House), joining Anita for a lively, in-depth conversation about their debut novels, writing processes and such morsels as how food can be a language between characters. As we commune, willing participants can bake-along from their kitchens, or simply sit in the grid and visit. For details, recipe and Zoom link go here.
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☯️ Thu. ~ Sun. October 9-13, 2024 ~ Cazadero, CA
Sonoma County Writers Camp
Ratna Ling Retreat Center
Curated by founders and published authors, Ellen Sussman and Elizabeth Stark. Anita will be Special Guest Author and will teach a master class: How Characters are Like an Iceberg: 10% in primary awareness; 90% Below the surface (where story lives)
This retreat will infuse you and your writing with creative energy!
This session will explore the question: What is the story you have to tell? Strengthen access to your deep knowledge, gain complete permission to wield your voice, your insights, your way of looking at the world. Experience the power of tapping into your most urgent, personal passions and obsessions. Celebrate yourself as an instrument of story, finely honed by the life you’ve led, the lessons you’ve learned, the way you see people, places and things. In the contemplative, gorgeous space provided by Ratna Ling, discover the ways a profound and meditative mindfulness deepens the creative work and opens its meanings. In the process, develop scenes and stories that readers, equally, have to read!
To sign up: office@sonomacountywriterscamp.com
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The Peach Seed Makes the 12th Annual Crooks Corner Book Prize Longlist
The Crooks Corner Book Prize is awarded to the best debut novel set in the American South. Read More
Read Anita’s Mini-Essay in
Poets & Writers Magazine
In this online exclusive Poets & Writers asks authors to share books, art, music, writing prompts, films—anything and everything—that has inspired them in their writing.
They see this as a place for writers to turn to for ideas that will help feed their creative process. You can read my essay here.
“The Peach Seed is set to be an epic, enchanting debut.”
Lauren Puckett-Pope, ELLE.com
The Peach Seed Official Book Trailer
“I couldn’t imagine a two-minute trailer managing to stir my old heart as did this piece. Extraordinary! Such an invitation to enter The Peach Seed book!”
—Ged Ayotte, Vancouver BC
“Anita Gail Jones weaves together personal histories and the legacies that came before us in an expansive story about family and hidden histories. The world in this debut novel feels so lived in. Readers are drawn in by gorgeous passages about landscapes that dance with all five senses..”
Debutiful
Recent News
What A Difference A Day Makes, Or, Re-opening My Eyes to Hard Truths
After sleeping on the terror-fying reality of four more years of an unstable egomaniac occupying the White House, I tried to face the day. America has …
“Waiting Room” by Anita Gail Jones
First appeared in Left Coast Writer’s Roadwork Anyone who says writing is a lonely business has yet to spend time with a headful of fictional …
King & Kamala
The Moral Beauty of Protest and Organizing Jonathan Eig’s book, KING: A Life, 2024 winner of The Pulitzer Prize for biography, is a fresh, …
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Let’s Connect
Facebook: @AnitaGailJones
Instagram: @anitagailjones
Twitter: @peachseedmonkey
LinkedIn: @AnitaGailJones