Jill Butler

Jill Butler is an accomplished author and literary scholar from the United States. Her books, essays, and short stories have earned widespread critical and commercial success and praise. Butler's literature often focuses on the intersection of historical fiction, magical realism, and contemporary life. In her writing, she touches upon themes of family, race, heritage, identity, love, and fate.

Butler was born in Lansing, Michigan, in 1971 and grew up in Portland, Maine. As an undergraduate, she attended the University of Minnesota, where she majored in English Literature and minored in American Studies. She was initially drawn to American literature and its connection to the histories and contemporary lives of American people. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1993, Butler attended the University of Michigan Law School. She graduated with a Juris Doctorate in 1996 and went on to practice law until 2001.

Butler's writing career began in 2001 when her first story, "The Heavens Wait," was accepted by the literary magazine, the New England Review. Her first collection of short stories, Righteous Wrath, was published in 2005 and was an immediate critical success. Butler was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts fellowship for her writing in 2008 and went on to publish her first novel, Plummeting Fine, two years later.

Plummeting Fine is an imaginative historical fiction set in South Africa during the Apartheid Era. The story follows two sisters who, due to circumstances of their birth, are separated and raised in different worlds. Through the narrative, Butler explores family and racial identity, as well as the intertwining paths of destiny and free will. Plummeting Fine was a finalist for the International Dublin Fiction Award and a nominee for the Commonwealth Writers Prize.

Butler's subsequent works include the novella The Prolonged Life of a Story (2011) and the novel The Black House (2018). The Prolonged Life of a Story is a fantasy tale set in the isolated island of Lonaura — a land with a deep mythology and a hidden magical core. The Black House is a metaphysical tale of two families on a journey to discover the ephemeral nature of identity. In each book, Butler brings her unique style of character-driven prose as well as her talent for weaving stunningly complex narratives.

In addition to her fiction writing, Butler has written several essays and editorials exploring themes of identity, healing, and justice. Her essays have been published in a number of journals and magazines, including the Oxford American and The New York Review of Books. In 2016, Butler became a Contributing Editor at Poets & Writers, a writer's magazine devoted to the craft and business of writing. After leaving the magazine in 2019, Butler began writing a regular column for The New York Times Magazine.

Throughout her career, Butler has been a tireless advocate for social and racial justice. She contributes to a range of causes, including the ACLU and Southern Poverty Law Center. In 2021, she launched Stories Out Loud, an initiative focused on amplifying underrepresented voices in the literary world.

A recognized leader in contemporary fiction and the literary world, Jill Butler is an important voice in our literary culture today. She is an example of how powerful stories and creative writing can be in sparking conversations, fueling imagination, and illuminating common threads between all of us.