Evan Jones holds a Masters degree from the University of Melbourne and also attended Stanford University. He has been an Honorary Associate in the English Department at the University of Melbourne and has lectured and tutored in English and History. While at university in the 1950s, Jones was part of a group of writers which included Chris Wallace-Crabbe and Vincent Buckley.
Jones has written in the genres of poetry and literary criticism, and has also been an editor. His poetry has been described by The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature as strongly personal, subjecting "life, himself and human relationships to a close and mildly sardonic scrutiny".