Jayne Anne Phillips is an American novelist and short story writer born in Buckhannon, West Virginia in 1952. She spent her career working in both creative writing and academic settings, bringing her experience as a writer to her teaching. From 2005 to 2020, Phillips served as a professor of English at Rutgers University-Newark. During her tenure, she played a role in establishing the MFA program at the university, contributing to the development of graduate-level creative writing education.