Writer & Teacher
Mary Jo Tate earned an MA in English from the University of South Carolina and a BA in
English and philosophy from the University of Mississippi. She was editorial assistant to eminent Fitzgerald scholar Matthew J. Bruccoli and worked with him on the Cambridge University Press editions of The Great Gatsby and The Love of the Last Tycoon: A Western, the eighteen-volume facsimile series F. Scott Fitzgerald Manuscripts, and many other Fitzgerald projects.
Mary Jo is the author of F. Scott Fitzgerald A to Z (revised and expanded as Critical
Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald) and Flourish: Balance for Homeschool Moms. As a freelance
editor and book coach since 1986, she has worked with authors from five continents. Mary Jo
homeschooled her sons from kindergarten through high school for twenty-three years and taught literature to grades 9–12 in a classical Christian homeschool co-op and grades 7–8 in a classical Christian school. She currently teaches literature to high schoolers and adults online and delights in helping them learn to understand, appreciate, and love great books. You can learn more about her classes at www.MaryJoTate.com.
A lifelong bibliophile, Mary Jo is constantly adding to her home library. She celebrates
the joy of reading on her Facebook page, “Avid Readers with Mary Jo Tate.” As an expert on Jan
Karon’s Mitford series, she leads the international Mitford Book Club on Facebook.
Mary Jo is a native Mississippian who currently lives in Spring Hill, Tennessee, where
she savors experiencing four distinct seasons for the first time in her life. She has four adult sons, three grandchildren, and a companionable cat named Barnabas.
The Society for Women of Letters 