Jesse McCarthy is an American essayist, cultural critic, and assistant professor in English and African-American studies at Harvard University.
[1] McCarthy has published on topics including the representation of women in the civil rights movement in film.
[2] 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] His debut novel, The Fugitivities, was released June 2021.
[5] He cites Gustave Flaubert's Sentimental Education as an important source of inspiration.
[5] 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?