115 ratings | 41 reviews | avg rating:4.32

Tayari Jones’s Followers (29,740)

Tayari’s Bookshelves

to-read (32)
currently-reading (1)
read (122)
did-not-finish (0)

Tayari’s Friends (825)

Lynecia

2,794 books | 400 friends

Lynne Reeves Griffin

1,571 books | 1,015 friends

Katrina

1,630 books | 356 friends

William

1,697 books | 1,346 friends

Aneicia

1,021 books | 51 friends

Leslie

2,273 books | 281 friends

Joshunda Sanders

2,165 books | 624 friends

Shanna Miles

410 books | 237 friends

More friends…

Tayari Jones

Goodreads Author

Born

in Atlanta, Georgia, The United States

Website

http://www.tayarijones.com/

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Contemporary, Fiction

Member Since

May 2010

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/tayari

edit data

Tayari Jones is the author of the novels Leaving Atlanta, The Untelling, Silver Sparrow, and An American Marriage (Algonquin Books, February 2018). Her writing has appeared in Tin House, The Believer, The New York Times, and Callaloo. A member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, she has also been a recipient of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, Lifetime Achievement Award in Fine Arts from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, United States Artist Fellowship, NEA Fellowship and Radcliffe Institute Bunting Fellowship. Silver Sparrow was named a #1 Indie Next Pick by booksellers in 2011, and the NEA added it to its Big Read Library of classics in 2016. Jones is a graduate of Spelman College, University of Iowa, and Arizona State Univers ...more

451 posts
Tayari Jones's Blog

Tayari Jones Profiled in Publishers Weekly

“Before finishing her latest novel, Tayari Jones had to overcome serious illness and self-doubt.” Read more of the story from Publishers Weekly.

View more on Tayari Jones's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 02, 2026 12:16

View all 451 posts »

Combine Editions
Tayari Jones’s books

Average rating: 3.94 · 457,867 ratings · 39,715 reviews · 22 distinct works • Similar authors

	An American Marriage 3.93 avg rating — 386,203 ratings — published 2018 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Silver Sparrow 3.90 avg rating — 46,135 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Leaving Atlanta 4.05 avg rating — 6,960 ratings — published 2002 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Untelling 3.72 avg rating — 4,766 ratings — published 2005 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Half Light by Tayari Jones (Goodreads Author), Bahni Turpin (Narrator) 3.72 avg rating — 2,481 ratings — published 2020 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dispossession by Tayari Jones (Goodreads Author), Gabrielle Union (Narrator) 3.85 avg rating — 1,891 ratings — published 2021 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Kin 4.46 avg rating — 426 ratings — expected publication 2026 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Atlanta Noir (Akashic Noir) 3.54 avg rating — 411 ratings — published 2017 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	An American Marriage & Silver Sparrow By Tayari Jones 2 Books Collection Set by Tayari Jones (Goodreads Author) 3.96 avg rating — 78 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	LaKeisha and the Dirty Girl (McSweeney's 28) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Tayari Jones…

Looking at 2026—and the amazing year of reading ahead of us—we’ve done a bit of sorting based on author trends and news. Which big hitters are...

Tayari is Currently Reading

Tayari Jones is currently reading

Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge: George and Martha Washington's Courageous Slave Who Dared to Run Away; Young Readers Edition

by Erica Armstrong Dunbar

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

May 13, 2019 03:32PM

rss
Tayari’s Recent Updates

Tayari Jones wrote a new blog post KIN to be published on February 24, 2026 Tayari Jones’s fifth novel KIN will be published by Alfred A. Knopf/ Penguin Random House on February 24, 2026.
Jan 26, 2026 12:08AM · like

More of Tayari's books…

Quotes by Tayari Jones (?)

“But home isn't where you land; home is where you launch. You can't pick your home any more than you can choose your family. In poker, you get five cards. Three of them you can swap out, but two are yours to keep: family and native land.”
― Tayari Jones, An American Marriage

181 likes

“Much of life is timing and circumstance, I see that now.”
― Tayari Jones, An American Marriage

118 likes

“There should be a word for this, the way it feels to steal something that’s already yours.”
― Tayari Jones, An American Marriage

73 likes

See all Tayari Jones's quotes »

Polls

Help us find our next Book of the month! Please vote for your favorites below :)

Fantasy

Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle, #1) by Christopher Paolini

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days, #1) by Susan Ee

Angelfall by Susan Ee

The Collectors’ Society (The Collectors’ Society, #1) by Heather Lyons

The Collectors’ Society by Heather Lyons

71 votes 35.3%

Contemporary

It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

71 votes 35.3%

Historical fiction

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

59 votes 29.4%

201 total votes

6 comments

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Literary Fiction ...: Listening to Toni Morrison	3	27	Oct 29, 2008 08:37PM
Literary Fiction ...: recent, delightful books by african american authors	16	100	Jan 28, 2009 04:58PM
Literary Fiction ...: Voices from the Gaps	2	22	Feb 18, 2009 06:38AM
Literary Fiction ...: eJournal - Multicultural Literature	2	29	Feb 24, 2009 01:43PM
Literary Fiction ...: Discussion: The Gangster We Are All Looking For	37	120	Mar 23, 2009 07:23PM
Literary Fiction ...: White Authors/Protagonists of Color	45	575	Jun 18, 2009 03:35PM
Literary Fiction ...: What blogs are you reading?	7	34	Sep 08, 2009 11:49AM
Literary Fiction ...: NAACP Image Award Nominees in Literature	2	36	Jan 07, 2010 03:57AM