Born on October 16, 1963, in Abington, PA, J. J. Murray has lived in Missouri (St. Louis), New York (Huntington),
New Jersey (Plainfield), Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh), Indiana (West Lafayette and College Corners), and Ohio (Marietta), and
now makes his home in Virginia. After graduating Marietta College (OH) with a BA in English, he settled
in the Roanoke Valley of Virginia.
The son, grandson,
and great-grandson of preachers and teachers, J. J. taught public high school English for twenty years to students
who sometimes actually spoke it. He is currently lead teacher in a wilderness residential school for at-risk young men and
an elder with Acting Faith Ministries in Salem, Virginia.
J. J. met his wife, Amy Renee, at a high school football game at Victory Stadium in Roanoke in the fall of 1989,
and their four-year courtship forms the basis of his first novel, Renee and Jay. The first ten years of their marriage
form the basis of its sequel, Renee and Jay 2.
Amy,
Joshua Malik, Jontae Emmanuel, and J. J. live in Roanoke, Virginia, the setting for Renee and Jay, Renee
and Jay 2, Something Real, I'm Your Girl, Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Too
Much of a Good Thing, and much of the poetry contained in Calzone Street.
J. J. really enjoys getting mail.
Let him know what's on your mind!
