Jennine Capó Crucet
A writer and educator who believes in the transformative power of storytelling.
Fields of expertise:
She’s the author of four books, most recently the critically-acclaimed novel Say Hello to My Little Friend, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction.
A former Contributing Opinion Writer for the New York Times, she’s also the recipient of a PEN/O. Henry Prize, the Picador Fellowship, and the Hillsdale Award for the Short Story, awarded by the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Her fiction and nonfiction have been widely anthologized, and her work has appeared on PBS NewsHour, National Public Radio, and in publications such as the Atlantic, Condé Nast Traveler, and other national and international publications.
Her first novel, Make Your Home Among Strangers, won the International Latino Book Award, was named a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice book, and was cited as a best book of the year by NBC Latino, the Guardian, the Miami Herald, and other venues. It has been adopted as an all-campus read at over forty U.S. universities (and counting).
Her other books include the story collection How to Leave Hialeah, which won the Iowa Short Fiction Prize, the John Gardner Book Award, and the Devil’s Kitchen Reading Award; and the essay collection My Time Among the Whites: Notes from an Unfinished Education, which was long-listed for the 2019 PEN America/Open Book Award.
She’s worked as a professor of creative writing and ethnic studies, and she's led workshops at conferences and institutions across the country. She’s also worked as a screenwriter, a college access counselor to first-generation college students, and as a sketch comedienne (though not all at the same time). Born and raised in Miami to Cuban parents, she lives in North Carolina with her family.
