Her novel Palmares (2021), about "the largest and best known of Brazil's quilombos, communities established by Africans who had escaped slavery",[6] was a 2022 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Fiction.[18]
The Healing was a National Book Award finalist for fiction in 1998.[19]
In 2022, Jones was honored for lifetime achievement at 43rd annual American Book Awards, presented by Ishmael Reed's Before Columbus Foundation.[20] Her novel, The Birdcatcher, was a National Book Award finalist for fiction in 2022.[21]