Key Takeaways
- MacKenzie Scott is stepping back into fiction with a new 80,000-word novel, Last Days in Two Nations (A History in Eighteen Minds), which she’ll release in serial form on Substack throughout August—her first book since 2013’s Traps.
- Before becoming one of the world’s most-watched philanthropists, Scott built a serious literary career—studying under Toni Morrison at Princeton, winning an American Book Award for The Testing of Luther Albright, and publishing two acclaimed novels before a decade-long break.
- Since her 2019 divorce from Jeff Bezos, Scott has given away more than $26 billion—including over $1 billion to HBCUs and major unrestricted gifts to groups like Meals on Wheels, Habitat for Humanity, The Trevor Project, and Active Minds—while largely avoiding the spotlight until this new book rollout.
MacKenzie Scott has spent the past several years making headlines for giving away billions. Now, the billionaire philanthropist is returning to the work she was doing long before her fortune became the story: writing fiction.
According to The New York Times, Scott revealed that she has written a new novel, Last Days in Two Nations (A History in Eighteen Minds), and plans to release it serially throughout August through a newly launched Substack newsletter. The 80,000-word, 317-page book will be her first novel in 13 years, following 2013's Traps.
Scott offered only a glimpse of what's coming, publishing four introductory pages containing the title, table of contents, characters and epigraphs. On Instagram, she directed followers to "read and subscribe" and shared a schedule for the book's rollout.
The release represents an unusual return to public-facing work for Scott, who has largely avoided interviews and appearances even as she became one of the world's most closely watched philanthropists.
But writing isn't a late-in-life pivot for Scott. It's where her career began.
Scott studied English and creative writing at Princeton, where Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison became her mentor and thesis adviser. Morrison later praised Scott's debut, The Testing of Luther Albright, calling it "a rarity: a sophisticated novel that breaks and swells the heart."
Published in 2005 after a decade of work, the novel follows a California structural engineer confronting turmoil in his career and family and won an American Book Award in 2006.
Her second novel, Traps, arrived in 2013 and followed four women whose lives converge over several days in Las Vegas. Then Scott essentially disappeared from literary publishing.
During the years surrounding her early writing career, Scott was also involved in Amazon's beginnings. After marrying Jeff Bezos in 1993, she drove during the couple's 1994 cross-country trip to Seattle while Bezos worked on the business plan that became Amazon. Scott subsequently handled accounting and other operational work for the young company.
Her public identity changed dramatically following their 2019 divorce. Scott received a roughly 4 percent Amazon stake in the settlement and soon signed the Giving Pledge, committing to donate most of her fortune.
Since then, MacKenzie Scott has distributed more than $26 billion, frequently through enormous unrestricted grants that leave recipients free to decide how to spend the money. Her 2025 giving alone topped $7 billion.
Higher education has been a major beneficiary. Scott's donations to HBCUs have surpassed $1 billion, with major gifts going to Howard University, Spelman College, Morgan State University, Prairie View A&M University, Winston-Salem State University, Xavier University of Louisiana and others. Tribal and community colleges have received millions more.
Her giving has also reached organizations including Meals on Wheels America, Habitat for Humanity, Active Minds, The Trevor Project and the United Negro College Fund. Just last month, Active Minds announced a $20 million Scott donation—the largest gift in the youth mental health nonprofit's history.
