Naomi Jackson is author of the novel The Star Side of Bird Hill, published by Penguin Press in 2015. The Star Side of Bird Hill was nominated for an NAACP Image Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and longlisted for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize, the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, and the International Dublin Literary Award. Star Side was named an Honor Book for Fiction by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. It is the winner of Late Night Library’s 2016 Debut-litzer Prize. First Lady of New York City Chirlane McCray selected the novel for the City’s 2016 Gracie Book Club. Jackson is a graduate of The University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She traveled to South Africa on a Fulbright scholarship, where she received an M.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town. Her work has appeared in literary journals and magazines in the United States and abroad, including Tin House, brilliant corners, Obsidian, Poets & Writers, and The Caribbean Writer. Jackson has taught at The University of Iowa, University of Pennsylvania, Queens College, and Oberlin College. Jackson was born and raised in Brooklyn by West Indian parents.