Clement is author of the novels A True Story Based on Lies, The Poison That Fascinates, Prayers for the Stolen, Gun Love and Stormy People as well as several poetry books including Poems and Errors, published by Kaunitz-Olsson in Sweden.  Clement also wrote the acclaimed memoirs Widow Basquiat on New York City in the early 1980’s and the painter Jean-Michel Basquiat, which NPR named best book of 2015 in seven different categories, and The Promised Party on her life in Mexico City and New York. Clement’s books have been translated into 38 languages and have covered topics such as the stealing of little girls in Mexico, the effects of gun violence and trafficking of guns into Mexico and Central America as well as writing about her life in  the art worlds of Mexico and New York.

Clement is the recipient of  Guggenheim, NEA, MacDowell and Santa Maddalena Fellowships and her books have twice been a New York Times Editor’s Choice Book.  Prayers for the Stolen  was the recipient of the Grand Prix des Lectrices Lyceenes de ELLE(sponsored by ELLE Magazine, the French Ministry of Education and the Maison des écrivains et de la littérature)  and a New Statesman Book of the Year, picked by the Nobel Laureate Kazuo Ishiguro. Gun Love was  an Oprah Book Club Selection as well as being a National Book Award and Aspen Words Literary Prize finalist.  Time magazine, among other publications, named it one of the top 10 books of 2018.  At NYU she was the commencement speaker for the Gallatin graduates of 2017 and she gave the Lectio Magistralis in Florence, Italy for the Premio Gregor von Rezzori.  Clement is a member of Mexico’s prestigious Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte.

For Clement’s work in human rights, she was awarded the HIP Award for contribution to Latino Communities by the Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP) Organization as well as being the recipient of  the Sara Curry Humanitarian Award.  Most recently,  she was  given  the 2023 Freedom of Expression Honorary title  on the occasion of World Press Day by Brussels University Alliance VUB and ULB in partnership with the European Commission, European Endowment for Democracy and UNESCO among others.  Other laureates include Svetlana Alexievich, Zhang Zhan, Ahmet Altan, Daphne Caruana Galizia and Raif Badawi, among others.

Jennifer Clement was raised in Mexico where she lives.  Clement has a double major in anthropology and English Literature from New York University (Gallatin)  and an MFA from University of Southern Maine (Stonecoast). She was named a Distinguished Alumna by the Kingswood Cranbrook School.