Jamel Brinkley

Jamel Brinkley
Occupation	Writer
Nationality	American
Education	Columbia University (BA) University of Iowa (MFA)
Notable awards	Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence (2019) PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award (2019)

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. He currently teaches fiction at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Biography

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.[1][2][3]

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."[4][5]

His second book, Witness, won the Maya Angelou Book Award and he accepted the award over a video call in 2024.[6]

Brinkley is an alumnus of the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop and 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.[5][8][9]

Awards

Awards for Brinkley's writing

Year	Title	Award	Cateogory	Result	Ref.
2018	A Lucky Man	National Book Award	Fiction	Finalist	[10]
		National Book Critics Circle Award	John Leonard Prize	Finalist	[11]
		The Story Prize	—	Finalist	[12]
2019		Aspen Words Literary Prize	—	Longlisted	[13]
		Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence	—	Won	[14]
		Hurston/Wright Legacy Award	Début Fiction	Finalist	[15]
		PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award	—	Won	[16]
		PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize	—	Finalist	[17][18]
2024	Witness	Aspen Words Literary Prize	—	Shortlisted	[19]
		PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction	—	Finalist	[20]

Publications

• A Lucky Man. Graywolf Press. 2018. ISBN 9781555978051.
• Witness: Stories. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2023. ISBN 9780374607036.

References

1. "ABOUT". Jamel Brinkley. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
2. "Jamel Brinkley". Iowa Writers' Workshop. The University of Iowa. Archived from the original on October 7, 2022. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
3. "AitN: December 17, 2018". Columbia College Today. December 17, 2018. Archived from the original on November 27, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
4. "'A Lucky Man' Challenges Masculinity — With Love". NPR.org. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
5. "Author Profile: Jamel Brinkley, author of 'A Lucky Man'". The Gazette. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
6. "Jamel Brinkley Wins 2024 Maya Angelou Book Award | Kansas City Public Library". kclibrary.org. Retrieved January 2, 2025.
7. "Jamel Brinkley". Arts + Literature Laboratory. October 25, 2016. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
8. "Jamel Brinkley Bio". Literary Arts. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. 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. "Jamel Brinkley". National Book Foundation. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
11. Barrios, Gregg (December 10, 2018). "Announcing the Finalists for the John Leonard Award for Best First Book". National Book Critics Circle. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
12. "2018/19". The Story Prize. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
13. "2019 PRIZE". Aspen Words. Archived from the original on March 2, 2022. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
14. Johnson, Chevel. "Jamel Brinkley wins Ernest J. Gaines Award recognizing African-American fiction writers". USA Today. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
15. "Legacy Awards". Hurston/Wright Foundation. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
16. "Awards & Award Winners". PEN Oakland. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
17. Schaub, Michael (January 24, 2019). "PEN America announces literary awards finalists". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 12, 2022. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
18. "Jamel Brinkley". Iowa Writers' Workshop. Archived from the original on October 7, 2022. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
19. Schaub, Michael (March 14, 2024). "Aspen Words Literary Prize 2024 Finalists Revealed". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on March 15, 2024. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
20. "The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction". The PEN/Faulkner Foundation. Archived from the original on September 18, 2020. Retrieved May 13, 2023.