Jesse McCarthy

For the Toronto municipal politician, see Jesse O. McCarthy.

Not to be confused with Jesse McCartney.

Jesse McCarthy is an American essayist, cultural critic, and assistant professor in English and African-American studies at Harvard University.^[1]

Jesse McCarthy
Academic background
Alma mater	Amherst College (BA) Princeton University (Ph.D.)
Academic work
Discipline	English, African and African American Studies
Institutions	Harvard University

Publications

Cultural criticism

McCarthy has published on topics including the representation of women in the civil rights movement in film.^[2]

Non-fiction

He is the author of Who Will Pay Reparations on My Soul?, an essay collection addressing questions such as: “What do people owe each other when debts accrued can never be repaid?”^[3]

Fiction

His debut novel, The Fugitivities, was released June 2021.^[4][5] It's the story of Jonah Winters, a young black man forming his identity, with parts of the story in Brooklyn, Brazil, Montevideo and Paris.^[5] He cites Gustave Flaubert's Sentimental Education as an important source of inspiration.^[5]

Editor

• Minor Notes Volume 1 (Penguin, 2023), with an introduction by Tracy K Smith
• The Souls of Black Folk (Norton Library, 2022)

Awards

McCarthy was recipient of a literary Whiting Award 2022 ($50,000) in the category non-fiction for his essay collection Who Will Pay Reparations on My Soul? granted by the Whiting Foundation in Brooklyn, New York City.^[6]