Jack Butler was born in Alligator, Mississippi and is the son of a Southern Baptist preacher. He was himself an ordained minister but has not worked in that capacity since he was a very young man.
He is a poet, novelist and essayist. His novel Living in Little Rock with Miss Little Rock was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. His poems have been published in The New Yorker, Atlantic, and New York Times Book Review. Other novels include Jujitsu For Christ and Nightshade (a vampire-on-Mars tale) and Dreamer. Hawk Gumbo and Other Stories is his first story collection. His poetry books are The Kid Who Wanted to be a Spaceman, Broken Hallelujah: New and Selected Poems, and West of Hollywood, and he’s published a cookbook called Jack’s Skillet. He now lives in Eureka, California.
Published by Mud Flat Press:
Practicing Zen Without a License
Christmas on a Distant Planet
“It has been my lot to be seen as a rebel by the people who raised me and as a reactionary by the more radical strangers I’ve encountered.” – Jack Butler, from Practicing Zen Without a License
- Jack Butler’s author page on Amazon.com
- Interview with Jack Butler by Mud Flat Press
- Jack’s blog: author Jack Butler – poetry, fiction, and essays by Jack Butler
- New Jack Butler Interview! Science Fiction, the South, Sex — and a new novel? by Professor Fury in Pretty Fakes
- An Interview with Jack Butler by Brannon Costello in Mississippi Quarterly
- A Conversation with Jack Butler (Bat Segundo Special) by Edward Champion – a one hour radio special
- Jack Butler (1944-) – on The Encyclopedia of Arkansas
- Jack Butler (author) – on Wikipedia
Books by Jack Butler
- West of Hollywood: Poems from a Hermitage [poetry, August House, 1980]
- Hawk Gumbo and Other Stories [fiction, August House, 1982]
- The Kid Who Wanted to Be a Spaceman and Other Poems [poetry, August House, 1984]
- Jujitsu for Christ [fiction, August House, 1986]
- Nightshade [fiction, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989]
- Living In Little Rock With Miss Little Rock [fiction, Knopf, 1993]
- Jack’s Skillet: Plain Talk and Some Recipes From a Guy in the Kitchen [cookbook, Algonquin Books, 1997]
- Dreamer [fiction, Knopf, 1998]
- Practicing Zen Without A License [fiction, Mud Flat Press, 2011]
- Broken Hallelujah: New and Selected Poems [poetry, Texas Review Press, 2013]
- Christmas on a Distant Planet [fiction, Mud Flat Press, 2021]
- Mud Flat Shorts (mostly fiction) [includes three short stories, Mud Flat Press, 2022]
- Mud Flat Verse (an anthology) [includes fourteen poems, Mud Flat Press, 2023]