Jason Mott

Jason Mott is an American novelist and poet. His fourth novel, Hell of a Book, won the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction.

Early life and education Mott was born in Bolton, North Carolina. He attended Cape Fear Community College and graduated from the University of North Carolina Wilmington with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fiction and a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry.

Writing Mott's debut novel, The Returned, was published in 2013. It centered on the return of dead people to the living world and their impact on the daily lives of the people around them. The novel was adapted into the television series Resurrection, which was produced by ABC Studios and aired in 2014.

Mott's third novel, The Crossing, was published in 2018. It is a dystopian thriller that follows two siblings forced on the run to do whatever it takes to survive.

Mott's fourth and most critically acclaimed novel, Hell of a Book, was published by E. P. Dutton on June 29, 2021. It is at times an absurdist and metafictional look into the complex and fraught African American experience. On November 17, 2021, the novel was awarded the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction. It also received the 2021 Sir Walter Raleigh Prize for Fiction and the 2022 Housatonic Book Award for Fiction. It was shortlisted for the 2022 Chautauqua Prize. It was also longlisted for the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, the 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize, and the 2022 Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize. It was also a finalist for the 2022 Maya Angelou Book Award.

Mott was the recipient of a 2024 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Creative Writing.

Awards

Literary prize Year Title Award Category Result Ref 2021 Hell of a Book National Book Award Fiction North Carolina Book Awards Fiction 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence Fiction Aspen Words Literary Prize — Chautauqua Prize — Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize — Maya Angelou Book Award —

Honors

2024 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Creative Writing

Works Novels

Poetry collections

Short fiction — (2023). "Best of Luck". Seattle, Washington: Amazon Original Stories. .