63 ratings | 5 reviews | avg rating:4.06

more photos (1)

Saeed Jones’s Followers (1,442)

Saeed’s Bookshelves

to-read (2)
currently-reading (3)
read (62)

Saeed’s Friends (371)

Meg Eden

3,576 books | 321 friends

Elizabeth Berger

1,126 books | 121 friends

Chelsey

4,478 books | 295 friends

Paul Vidich

76 books | 105 friends

Sara

2,538 books | 715 friends

Miriam Kumaradoss-Hohauser

1,318 books | 342 friends

Justin M Scott

343 books | 191 friends

Eaton Hamilton

844 books | 434 friends

More friends…

Saeed Jones

Goodreads Author

Born

in Memphis, The United States

Genre

Poetry, Memoir

Member Since

March 2009

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/saeedjones

edit data

Saeed Jones is the author of the memoir How We Fight for Our Lives, winner of the 2019 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction, the 2020 Stonewall Book Award/Israel Fishman Non-fiction Award, and a 2020 Lambda Literary Award. He is also the author of the poetry collection Prelude to Bruise, winner of the 2015 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry and the 2015 Stonewall Book Award/Barbara Gittings Literature Award. The poetry collection was a finalist for the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award, as well as awards from Lambda Literary and the Publishing Triangle in 2015. He lives in Columbus, Ohio.

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Saeed Jones questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Saeed Jones’s books

Average rating: 4.27 · 30,045 ratings · 3,928 reviews · 6 distinct works • Similar authors

	How We Fight For Our Lives 4.27 avg rating — 23,238 ratings — published 2019 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Alive at the End of the World 4.33 avg rating — 2,958 ratings — published 2022 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Prelude to Bruise 4.25 avg rating — 2,726 ratings — published 2014 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The People's Project: Poems, Essays, and Art for Looking Forward by Saeed Jones (Goodreads Author), Maggie Smith 4.24 avg rating — 816 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	When the Only Light Is Fire 4.30 avg rating — 291 ratings — published 2011 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Prime: Poetry & Conversation by L. Lamar Wilson, Rickey Laurentiis, Darrel Alejandro Holnes 3.68 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 2014	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Saeed Jones…

0 posts
Saeed Jones's Blog

Saeed Jones hasn't written any blog posts yet.

Related News

7 Great Books Hitting Shelves This Week

Need another excuse to go to the bookstore this week? We've got you covered with the buzziest new releases of the day. To create our list,...

Saeed is Currently Reading

Saeed Jones is currently reading

Three Steps on the Ladder of Writing

by Hélène Cixous

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

May 27, 2010 06:25AM

Saeed Jones is currently reading

A Martian Muse: Further Essays on Identity, Politics, and the Freedom of Poetry (Poets On Poetry)

by Reginald Shepherd

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

May 27, 2010 06:25AM

Saeed Jones rated a book really liked it

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

by Alison Bechdel (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

May 27, 2010 06:21AM

Quotes by Saeed Jones (?)

“I made myself a promise: Even if it meant becoming a stranger to my loved ones, even if it meant keeping secrets, I would have a life of my own.”
― Saeed Jones, How We Fight For Our Lives

tags: autonomy, family, life

33 likes

“People don’t just happen. We sacrifice former versions of ourselves. We sacrifice the people who dared to raise us. The “I” it seems doesn’t exist until we are able to say, “I am no longer yours.” My grandmother and I, without knowing it, were faithfully following a script that had already been written for us. A woman raises a boy into a man, loving him so intensely that her commitment finally repulses him.”
― Saeed Jones, How We Fight For Our Lives

30 likes

“Just as some cultures have a hundred words for 'snow,' there should be a hundred words in our language for all the ways a black boy can lie awake at night.”
― Saeed Jones, How We Fight For Our Lives

tags: black-boy, culture, identity, race

22 likes

See all Saeed Jones's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
21st Century Lite...: 2015 National Book Critics Award	6	76	Mar 14, 2015 07:21AM
21st Century Lite...: PEN /Literary Awards	7	125	Jun 15, 2015 05:01AM
The Seasonal Read...: Summer Challenge 2015: Completed Tasks (DO NOT DELETE POSTS)	3424	695	Sep 01, 2015 07:40PM
The Book Club: 2015 Book Prizes	23	97	Oct 08, 2015 04:15PM
Literary Fiction ...: Discussion: God Help the Child	110	161	Dec 02, 2015 05:57AM
Busy as a Bee Books: 10/15/19: Book News	3	15	Oct 17, 2019 09:16AM
Literary Fiction ...: 2019 Kirkus Prize Winners!	2	53	Oct 25, 2019 08:08AM
The Seasonal Read...: * Completed Tasks: PLEASE DO NOT DELETE ANY POST IN THIS THREAD	3708	399	Nov 30, 2019 09:00PM