Education
She was educated at Spelman College, the University of Iowa and Arizona State University. She started writing seriously at Spelman College, where she studied with Pearl Cleage, who published her first story, "Eugenics", in Catalyst magazine. Jones went on to University of Iowa, where she worked toward a Doctor of Philosophy in English, but she left after completing her master"s degree.
She also studied at The University of Georgia, where she worked with Kevin Young and Judith Ortiz Cofer.
She left UGA to enroll in the Master of Fine Arts program at Arizona State University where she worked with Ron Carlson and Jewell Parker Rhodes.