Graham Jones is a purple-wearing, puzzle-doing, pie-baking picturebook maker. He earned his MFA from Lesley University, mentored by picturebook writers Jason Reynolds, Cynthia Platt, Tracey Baptiste, and Michelle Knudsen.

Graham also studied illustration at the Lesley College of Art & Design. The drawings on this website come from Farmboy, a picturebook he’s working on about his early childhood in rural Iowa.

As a teenager, Graham spent every summer as a camp counselor in the Colorado Rockies and then became a teacher in Washington, DC. Now he’s a Professor of Anthropology at MIT, teaching classes about magic, play, language, and education.

As a Black anthropologist from a biracial background, Graham’s writing celebrates underrepresented voices and unconventional forms of idea-driven storytelling. A believer in the power of the imagination to spark positive change, he hopes his picturebooks empower young readers to reshape the world in new and better ways.

Graham lives near Boston with his wife, twins, and a dashing tuxedo tomcat. At parties, he can generally be found playing with the kids.