In 1988, Jones was the recipient of the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship. In 1991 he published a short fiction collection, "Swimming for Australia" (1991), which was shortlisted for the New Zealand Book Award for Fiction. In 1994 he curated an exhibition which illustrated the concept of Saturday in New Zealand life. The work was a collaboration with photographer Bruce Foster and held at the National Library in Wellington. The work was published as "The Last Saturday" and included historical photographs, contemporary photographs by Foster and an essay by Jones.