Tiffany D. Jackson

Jackson was born in New York and grew up in Brooklyn Heights.[2] She states that she first started wanting to become a writer when she was four years old.[2]

Jackson attended Hendrick Hudson High School and Howard University, where she studied Film, and ultimately moved back to New York to obtain her master's degree in Media Studies from The New School University.[2][3]

She lives in Brooklyn.[2]

Jackson's debut young adult novel Allegedly, about a teen who is accused of having murdered a baby when she was nine years old and finds out she is pregnant while living in a group home, was published by Katherine Tegen Books in 2017.[4][5] Jackson conducted research for the novel by talking to lawyers, doctors, social workers, correctional officers, group home supervisors, and detectives, but still didn't find she obtained concrete answers as to how the criminal justice system works in the US, referring to how crimes are judged, regardless of the severity.[5] Allegedly received several starred reviews[6][7][8] and was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in the category Outstanding Literary Work – Youth / Teens in 2017.[9] It was also on the Best YA of 2017 list of Kirkus Reviews,[10] School Library Journal,[11] NY Public Library,[12] Chicago Public Library,[13] and Texas Library Association.[14]

Her second young adult novel, Monday's Not Coming, about a girl whose best friend mysteriously disappears, was published in 2018 by Katherine Tegen Books.[15] Monday's Not Coming received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal.[16] It was inspired by numerous disappearances of black girls all across the United States, which eventually led to the creation of the hashtag #MissingDCGirls.[17][18] School Library Journal named Monday's Not Coming a best book of 2018.[19]

Jackson's third novel, Let Me Hear a Rhyme, set in 1998, is about three teens from Brooklyn who turn their late friend into a rap star and was published by Katherine Tegen Books in 2019.[20] It debuted to favorable reviews from critics, receiving starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews,[21] Booklist,[22] and Publishers Weekly.[23]

In February 2020, it was announced that Jackson's debut picture book Santa in the City, about a girl determined to prove that Santa is real, sold in a five-house auction. It is scheduled to be published by Dial in Fall 2021 and will be illustrated by Reggie Brown.[24]

Novels

• Allegedly (Katherine Tegen Books, 2017)
• Monday's Not Coming (Katherine Tegen Books, 2018)
• Let Me Hear a Rhyme (Katherine Tegen Books, 2019)
• Grown (Katherine Tegen Books, 2020)

Short stories

• in His Hideous Heart, edited by Dahlia Adler (Flatiron, 2019)

Nominations

2017

• NAACP Image Award in the category Outstanding Literary Work – Youth / Teens for Allegedly (Katherine Tegen Books, 2017)