Joshilyn Jackson, born on February 27, 1968, in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, is a celebrated American author known for her unique style of writing, which she describes as "Weirdo Fiction with a Shot of Southern Gothic Influence." She graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Pensacola, Florida, in 1986, and pursued higher education at various institutions, eventually obtaining a BA in English literature from Georgia State University and an MA in creative writing from the University of Illinois Chicago in 1997.

Jackson has authored several acclaimed novels, including A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty, Backseat Saints, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, Between, Georgia, Gods in Alabama, Someone Else's Love Story, The Opposite of Everyone, The Almost Sisters, and Never Have I Ever, as well as a novella, My Own Miraculous. Her works have been translated into over a dozen languages, and they've received numerous accolades such as SIBA’s Novel of the Year.

Beyond her writing career, Jackson is a dedicated member of the board of Reforming Arts, a nonprofit organization that provides liberal arts education to incarcerated women in Georgia. She also teaches creative writing classes at Lee Arrendale State Prison.

Joshilyn Jackson is also known for her work as an audiobook narrator, having been nominated for the Audie Award and included in AudioFile Magazine’s best of the year list. She resides in upstate New York with her family and a collection of black and white animals.