Alex Jennings

About Me!

Alex Jennings is a writer/editor/teacher/poet living in New Orleans. He was born in Wiesbaden (Germany) and raised in Gaborone (Botswana), Tunis (Tunisia), Paramaribo (Surinam) and the United States. He constantly devours pop culture and writes mostly jokes on Twitter (@magicknegro). He loves music, film, comix, and even some TV.

He is the Program Director of DreamFoundry’s Con or Bust and pens a regular speculative poetry review column in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction called “Chapter and Verse.” In 2022, he was the inaugural recipient of the Imagination Unbound Fellowship at Under the Volcano, a guided writing retreat held annually in Tepoztlan, Mexico.

His writing has appeared in Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, Electric Velocipede, Uncanny Magazine, Fantasy Magazine, New Suns, and Current Affairs, among other venues. His debut novel, The Ballad of Perilous Graves is available wherever books are sold. You can find him goofing around on Instagram: @magicknegro, Twitter: @magicknegro, and Bluesky:

He is also an instructor of fiction and popular fiction at The University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast MFA program.

Support him on Patreon

Photo by Nkechi Chibueze.

Events

June 23 - 27 - Stonecoast summer residency in Freeport, ME!

May 19 - 22, 2023 - I’ll be at WisCon in Madison, Wisconsin!

April 21 - 22, 2023 - Reading and signing at The LA Times Festival of Books at USC in Los Angeles.

April 1, 2023 - Blerdfest! I’ll be paneling, reading, tabling, and selling books. Passes are available HERE! Come on down and catch me in New Orleans, LA.

March 30 - April 1, 2023 - I’ll be reading, signing, and lecturing at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, LA. (Details soon!)

March 22 - 26, 2023 - Tennessee Williams Literary Festival. I’ll be paneling, reading, doing my thing at the Hotel Monteleone right here in New Orleans. More info available HERE!

March 15 - 18, 2023 - I’ll be at the International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts in Orlando, FL.

March 4, 2023 - Foreign Exchange book launch with Dior J. Stephens at Baldwin & Co book shop in New Orleans, LA.


 Announcements

Stay tuned for a MAJOR announcement on 2/22/2023!

1/17/2023 - THE BALLAD OF PERILOUS GRAVES is now available in paperback WHEREVER BOOKS ARE SOLD! Get you a copy here!

Instagram

@magicknegro

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Booking Requests:

To request Alex Jennings as a speaker, MC, performer, or panelist, email alex@alexjennings.net

Photo by Nkechi Chibueze.

 If you haven’t already, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of my debut novel, The Ballad of Perilous Graves. It’s a whimsical, musical romp through a magically-powered version of New Orleans where music is a kind of sorcery.

It’s been shortlisted for the Ernest J. Gaines Award, The William L. Crawford Fantasy Award, the Ray Bradbury Prize for Speculative Fiction, the Locus Award for Best First Novel, the Mark Twain American Voices Award, the 2023 Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature, and the World Fantasy Award.

It won the 2023 Compton Crook Prize from the Baltimore Science Fiction Society.

This novel is a tribute to my family and to the city that made me. Buy it here, or wherever books are sold!

Did I mention that the novel is a musical? I think I did, but I also compiled a playlist of music that inspired the book. I listened to a LOT of New Orleans Jazz, funk, R&B, hip-hop, and blues while working on it, and I compiled a playlist on Spotify!

Check it out here!

 

SERVICES!

Alex Jennings is a seasoned writing coach, reviewer, instructor, public speaker, copy editor, and developmental editor. He has decades of experience with speculative fiction, crime fiction, poetry (both speculative and non-), and literary fiction.

He is eternally curious and an adventurer at heart, so email him at alex@alexjennings.net to discuss your needs.

He looks forward to hearing from you!

I know this because he is me!