{{short description|American novelist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}} {{Infobox writer | name = Joshilyn Jackson | honorific_prefix = | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1968|2|27}} | birth_place = Fort Walton Beach, Florida, U.S. | occupation = Author | language = | education = Georgia State University (BA)<br>University of Illinois Chicago (MA) | period = | genre = <!-- or: | genres = --> | subject = <!-- or: | subjects = --> | movement = | notableworks = <!-- or: | notablework = --> | spouse = <!-- or: | spouses = --> | partner = <!-- or: | partners = --> | children = | relatives = | awards = | website = {{URL|www.joshilynjackson.com}} }}
'''Joshilyn Jackson''' (born February 27, 1968)<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Joshilyn Jackson |url=https://georgiacenterforthebook.org/authors/joshilyn-jackson |access-date=2026-03-27 |website=Georgia Center for the Book |language=en}}</ref> is an American author.
== Early life and education == Jackson was born in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.<ref name=":0" /> She graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Pensacola, Florida, in 1986.<ref name=":0" />
She attended several colleges before getting a two-year degree from Georgia Perimeter College and a BA in English literature from Georgia State University.<ref name=":0" /> She received an MA in creative writing from the University of Illinois Chicago in 1997.<ref name=":0" />
Before starting her writing career, Jackson was an actor.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Brewer |first=Robert Lee |date=2023-04-24 |title=Joshilyn Jackson: On Celebrity Obsession and Social Media |url=https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/joshilyn-jackson-on-celebrity-obsession-and-social-media |access-date=2026-03-27 |website=Writer's Digest |language=en}}</ref>
== Career == Jackson writes novels primarily in the thriller and Southern fiction genres,<ref name=":1" /> including ''A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty''; ''Backseat Saints''; ''The Girl Who Stopped Swimming; Between, Georgia; Gods in Alabama''; ''Someone Else's Love Story''; ''The Opposite of Everyone;'' ''The Almost Sisters; Never Have I Ever;'' ''Mother May I;'' and ''With My Little Eye''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Joshilyn Jackson |url=https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/authors/joshilyn-jackson-20144254526737 |access-date=2026-03-27 |website=HarperCollins |language=en}}</ref> She has also written the novella ''My Own Miraculous''. Jackson describes her writing style as "weirdo fiction" with a Southern Gothic influence and dark humor.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Valeri |first=Laura |date=2017 |title=Hindu Lore with a Southern Twang: An Interview with Joshylin Jackson |url=https://georgiasouthern.libguides.com/wraparoundsouth/winter2017/interview-with-joshylin-jackson |access-date=2026-03-27 |website=Wraparound South |language=en}}</ref>
Jackson is a board member of Reforming Arts, a nonprofit organization which provides liberal arts education to women in Georgia prisons.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Joshilyn Jackson - Author |url=https://www.defliterary.com/authors/joshilyn-jackson |access-date=2026-03-27 |website=DeFiore & Company}}</ref> She volunteer teaches creative writing classes at Arrendale State Prison.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dyer |first=Candice |date=2018-08-01 |title=Organizations: Reforming Arts |url=https://www.georgiatrend.com/2018/08/01/organizations-reforming-arts/ |access-date=2026-03-27 |website=Georgia Trend Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Joshilyn}} Category:21st-century American novelists Category:21st-century American women novelists Category:Living people Category:Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state) Category:1968 births
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