Jamel Brinkley

Jamel Brinkley is an American writer. His debut story collection, A Lucky Man (2018), was the winner of the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award and the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. It was also a finalist for the National Book Award, The Story Prize, the John Leonard Award, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize.^[1] He currently teaches fiction at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.^[2]^[3]

Life & writing

Jamel Brinkley was raised in Brooklyn and the Bronx, New York City. He graduated from Columbia University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he teaches.^[4]

His first book, A Lucky Man, is set in New York City and explores themes of family relationships, love, loss, complex identity, and masculinity. NPR said of the collection, "[It] may include only nine stories, but in each of them, Brinkley gives us an entire world."^[5]^[6]

Brinkley is an alumnus of the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop, and he was also a Kimbilio Fellow in Fiction.^[7] He graduated with an MFA in creative writing from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He was the 2016-2017 Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing and a 2018-2020 Wallace Stegner Fellow in Fiction at Stanford University.^[8]^[6]^[9]

Awards

Winner of the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award (2019)^[10]
Winner of the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence (2019)^[11]
Finalist for the National Book Award (2018)^[12]
Finalist for The Story Prize (2018)^[13]
Finalist for the John Leonard Award (2018)^[14]

References

^ "ABOUT". Jamel Brinkley. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
^ "ABOUT". JAMEL BRINKLEY. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
^ "Jamel Brinkley | Iowa Writers' Workshop | College of Liberal Arts & Sciences | The University of Iowa". writersworkshop.uiowa.edu. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
^ "AitN: December 17, 2018". Columbia College Today. December 17, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
^ "'A Lucky Man' Challenges Masculinity — With Love". NPR.org. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
^ a b "Author Profile: Jamel Brinkley, author of 'A Lucky Man'". The Gazette. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
^ "Jamel Brinkley". Arts + Literature Laboratory. October 25, 2016. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
^ "Jamel Brinkley Bio". Literary Arts. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
^ "WI Institute for Creative Writing Fellows". WI Institute for Creative Writing. Archived from the original on January 6, 2014. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
^ "Awards & Award Winners". PEN Oakland. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
^ Johnson, Chevel. "Jamel Brinkley wins Ernest J. Gaines Award recognizing African-American fiction writers". USA Today. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
^ "Jamel Brinkley". National Book Foundation. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
^ "2018/19". The Story Prize. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
^ "Announcing the Finalists for the John Leonard Award for Best First Book – National Book Critics Circle". www.bookcritics.org. December 10, 2018. Retrieved June 4, 2020.

[1] "ABOUT". Jamel Brinkley. Retrieved June 4, 2020.

[2] "ABOUT". JAMEL BRINKLEY. Retrieved May 1, 2022.

[3] "Jamel Brinkley | Iowa Writers' Workshop | College of Liberal Arts & Sciences | The University of Iowa". writersworkshop.uiowa.edu. Retrieved May 1, 2022.

[4] "AitN: December 17, 2018". Columbia College Today. December 17, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2020.

[5] "'A Lucky Man' Challenges Masculinity — With Love". NPR.org. Retrieved June 4, 2020.

[Author_Profile:_Jamel_Brinkley,_author_of_'A_Lucky_Man'_|_The_Gazette-6] "Author Profile: Jamel Brinkley, author of 'A Lucky Man'". The Gazette. Retrieved June 4, 2020.

[7] "Jamel Brinkley". Arts + Literature Laboratory. October 25, 2016. Retrieved June 4, 2020.

[8] "Jamel Brinkley Bio". Literary Arts. Retrieved June 4, 2020.

[9] "WI Institute for Creative Writing Fellows". WI Institute for Creative Writing. Archived from the original on January 6, 2014. Retrieved June 4, 2020.

[10] "Awards & Award Winners". PEN Oakland. Retrieved June 4, 2020.

[11] Johnson, Chevel. "Jamel Brinkley wins Ernest J. Gaines Award recognizing African-American fiction writers". USA Today. Retrieved June 4, 2020.

[12] "Jamel Brinkley". National Book Foundation. Retrieved June 4, 2020.

[13] "2018/19". The Story Prize. Retrieved June 4, 2020.

[14] "Announcing the Finalists for the John Leonard Award for Best First Book – National Book Critics Circle". www.bookcritics.org. December 10, 2018. Retrieved June 4, 2020.