Edward P. Jones, 53, of Arlington, seen Sept. 21, 2004, in Washington, was one of 23 recipients of a $500,000 MacArthur Foundation "genius grant," announced September 28, 2004. Jones, whose book "The Known World" about a black slave owner won this year's Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

AP/MacArthur Foundation, Matt Houston

Edward P. Jones was born in Washington, D.C. in 1950. He attended the local public schools and won a scholarship to Holy Cross College. Seven years after he graduated from college, he earned his M.F. A. at the University of Virginia.

After a series of jobs, he began working for a tax newsletter, first as a proof reader and then eventually as a columnist, a position he held for more than ten years. During this time Jones kept on writing. His first short story was published in ESSENCE in 1976. Since then he has had stories published in THE NEW YORKER, THE PARIS REVIEW, PLOUGHSHARES and CALLALOO. He has taught creative writing at the University of Virginia, George Mason University, the University of Maryland, and Princeton University.

Edward Jones' first collection of short stories, LOST IN THE CITY, was published in 1992 and won the PEN/Hemingway Award, was short-listed for the National Book Award, and was the recipient of a Lannan Foundation Award.

Jones' first novel, THE KNOWN WORLD (2003), received the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and he was named a MacArthur fellow for 2004.

ALL AUNT HAGAR'S CHILDREN, his latest collection of short stories, was published in 2006.



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