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For the musican, see Brian Jones.
Brian Jay Jones
Born (1967-08-01) August 1, 1967 (age 57)
Kansas City, Kansas
OccupationBiographer, speechwriter, policy advisor
Notable worksJim Henson: The Biography (2013)
Notable awardsGoodreads Choice Award Best History & Biography (2013)

Brian Jay Jones (born August 1, 1967) is an American biographer, primarily of American pop culture icons. He is the current president of Biographers International Organization.

Biography

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Born in Kansas City, Kansas, Jones was raised primarily in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He attended Eldorado High School and graduated from the University of New Mexico, where he earned a degree in English in 1989.[1][2] He is married, with one daughter, and lives in Damascus, Maryland.

Career

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For nearly a decade, Jones served as a Legislative Assistant and speechwriter in the United States Senate, working for U.S. Senators Pete V. Domenici and James M. Jeffords.[3] He specialized in policy matters relating to education, civil rights, and welfare reform, and served as staff member on the United States Senate Health Subcommittee on Children and Families.[4]

In 2008, he published Washington Irving: An American Original, a project he spent seven years writing and researching.[5] As one of the first biographies of Irving in eight decades, Washington Irving was praised by the Associated Press as "authoritative"[6] and "charming" by the New York Times.[7] In 2010, he was awarded the Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence from the St. Nicholas Society of New York.[8]

In 2012, he was elected vice president of Biographers International Organization (BIO), a non-profit organization founded to promote the art and craft of biography, and to further the professional interests of its practitioners. In 2014, he was elected as BIO's president.

In September 2013, Jones published Jim Henson: The Biography, the first comprehensive biography of Muppet creator Jim Henson. Hailed as "masterful" by Kirkus, Jim Henson was a New York Times bestseller,[9] and received the 2013 Goodreads Choice Award for Best History & Biography, as well as being selected by CNN viewers as a "Favorite Book of 2013." Henson's longtime associate Frank Oz publicly praised the book, saying, "I found out things about [Jim] in Jim Henson that were new to me. Brian Jay Jones has captured the layers of Jim’s genius and humanity as well as the flaws that made Jim, like all of us, so delightfully imperfect. Jim needed this book to be written." Lifelong Muppet fan Neil Patrick Harris called it "an absolute must-read!"[10]

Jones is currently writing a biography of filmmaker and Star Wars creator George Lucas.

A self-proclaimed "pop culture junkie,"[11] Jones has discussed at length his particular affection for the Beatles and comic books, especially the character Batman and the writer Alan Moore.[12] Early in his career, he briefly managed a comic book store.

References

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  1. ^ "Biographer of Muppet Creator Visits UNM". Retrieved June 12, 2015.
  2. ^ "Jim Henson: The Biography: First Looks From Its Author, The Morning Brew with Larry Ahrens, October 24, 2013". Retrieved June 12, 2015.
  3. ^ "The Making of the Muppets: A Q&A with Brian Jay Jones, Take One".
  4. ^ "Author bio, "Write What You Research,"".
  5. ^ "The Making of the Muppets: A Q&A with Brian Jay Jones, Take One".
  6. ^ ""Bio Illuminates 19th Century Writer"".
  7. ^ ""Reading New York: Witness to the Poor, and a Grand Ship Undone"".
  8. ^ "Medals Awarded by the Society"., St. Nicholas Society of New York.
  9. ^ "'New York Times Best Sellers, October 13, 2013".
  10. ^ See the dust jacket for Jim Henson: The Biography
  11. ^ "Author's website".
  12. ^ "The Last Hurrah Celebrates Jim Henson with Special Guest Brian Jay Jones"., The Annual, September 23, 2014. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
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