Recent Works

Jeff Allen is one of America’s premiere writers of fiction, poetry and the memoir essay form. A native Chicagoan with a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Jeff’s work has been widely read and anthologized since the debut of his startling first novel Rails Under My Back unto his latest story collection released in 2023 from Graywolf Press, Fat Time and Other Stories. His work collects themes of family, race, Black manhood, culture, pan-Africanism and even includes his stage adaptation of his celebrated 2014 novel Song of the Shank, based on real-life enslaved musical genius Blind Tom. He lives and works between the U.S. and Africa.