Nettie Jones was born in Arlington, Georgia, in 1943. She received a BA in secondary education from Wayne State University, and taught in the Detroit Public School System and the Royal George School in Montreal. She received a master’s in education from Marygrove College in 1971.

Later that year, she moved to New York City and continued her education at The New School for Social Research and the Fashion Institute of Technology. She later studied at the University of Chicago Divinity School, where she focused on Arts in Ministry. 

Jones’ first novel, Fish Tales, was acquired by Toni Morrison and published by Random House in 1984. Her second novel, Mischief Makers, was published in 1989. Her essays and short stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. She is currently at work on a third novel.

Jones was named a New York Times Promising New Novelist in 1985. She is the recipient of a National Endowment of the Arts' Individual Artist Award, a Yaddo Foundation Award, a Michigan Council of the Arts Award, a New York University Gallatin School of Individualized Study Student's Choice Award, a Carnegie Fund for Authors Award, and a PEN America Freedom to Write Award.

Farrar, Straus & Giroux will reissue Fish Tales in April 2025.

Please direct all inquiries for Ms. Jones to hello@hag.fish.