Jack Butler (born 1944 in Alligator, Mississippi) is an American author.
From 1964 to 1966, Butler attended Central Missouri State College, earning an English B.A. and a Math B.S.. From there, he attended the University of Arkansas and earned an M.F.A. in Creative Writing.
During the 1980s, Butler wrote his first five books: West of Hollywood (1980), Hawk Gumbo and Other Stories (1982), The Kid Who Wanted to Be a Spaceman (1984), Jujitsu for Christ (1986), and Nightshade (1989). In 1993, Living in Little Rock With Miss Little Rock was published, and was later nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
In 1988, Butler became assistant dean of Hendrix College and, in 1993, he became Director of Creative Writing at the College of Santa Fe, from which he later retired.
Since then, Butler has written two more books: Jack’s Skillet: Plain Talk and Some Recipes From a Guy in the Kitchen (1997, a cookbook) and Dreamers (1999).