About the Author

Tayari Jones was born and raised in southwest Atlanta. A graduate of Spelman College, she is the author of three novels, including Silver Sparrow, an NEA Big Read selection. Her work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Radcliffe Insitute for Advanced Study, and the United States Artist Foundation. She is on the MFA faculty at Rutgers-Newark University.

Reviews

Atlanta is one of America's most dynamic and fastest growing cities, with an increasingly diverse population. This volume honors the city's transformation--albeit in a chilling manner--with a highly talented crew of 14 respected contributors who know the city inside and out, from its souls to its heart . . . Once again, Akashic shows us why it is king of noir and especially anthologies with such high-quality writers and storytellers. We've waited long for this beautiful collection of all things dark and murderous, but the wait was well worth it. Atlanta Noir could well turn out to be Akashic's best work to date.-- "New York Journal of Books"

Now comes Atlanta Noir, an anthology that masterfully blends a chorus of voices, both familiar and new, from every corner of Atlanta . . . The magic of Atlanta Noir is readily apparent, starting with the introduction Jones pens. It doesn't rest solely upon the breadth of writers but on how their words, stories and references are so Atlanta--so very particular, so very familiar and so very readily, for those who know the city, nostalgic. And for those who don't? The sense of place it captures inspires a desire to get to know Atlanta and its stories.-- "ArtsATL"

The stories in Atlanta Noir are connected, as Jones suggests in her introduction . . . In particular, the 'rot' these narratives expose are specifically Atlanta versions of gentrification, the suburbs, traffic, and inequality. At their best, the stories reveal and complicate a post-civil rights, but far from post-racial, Atlanta . . . This collection is noteworthy in terms of its multiple contemporary literary representations of our city, particularly considering the general lack of them otherwise.-- "Atlanta Studies"