J. J. Murray is a product of the American melting pot.
Born on October 16, 1963, in Abington, PA, J. J. has lived in New York (Huntington), New Jersey (Plainfield),
Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh), Missouri (St. Louis), Indiana (West Lafayette and College Corners), and Ohio (Marietta).
He graduated magna cum laude from Marietta College (OH) with a BA in English before settling
in the Roanoke Valley of Virginia, just up the road from Virginia Tech.
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. J. J. is currently teaching in
a wilderness program for at-risk young men.
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 J.J.'s first novel, Renee and Jay. The first ten years
of their marriage is the basis for its sequel, Renee and Jay 2.
J. J., Amy, and their two sons, Joshua Malik (13), and Jontae Emmanuel (9), reside 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 his poetry.
