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After high school, he attended Ricks College (now Brigham Young University–Idaho) in Rexburg, Idaho, where he served as editor of the school's literary magazine, Runes. When he turned 19, he served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Houston, Austin, and San Antonio, Texas from 1970 to 1972. Upon returning from his mission, he moved to Provo, Utah to attend Brigham Young University, from which he graduated in August 1974 with a bachelor's degree in English. He served in the United States Air National Guard from 1972 to 1979, and wrote and edited the official newsletter for the Utah Air National Guard.

Throughout his professional career, Parry has continued to contribute freelance writing and research to various publications, including the Ensign and New Era magazines. He has frequently collaborated with others in his writing. Some of his coauthors have included Kurt Hanks and Larry Belliston (Wake Up Your Creative Genius, Keeping Close, Discipline, Joseph Smith: The Boy...The Prophet, and The Santa Claus Book), Andrew M. Allison (The Real George Washington), Larry E. Morris (The Mormon Book of Lists), Jack M. Lyon, Linda R. Gundry, and Devan Jensen (the Best-Loved series), and Donald W. Parry (Symbols and Shadows and the Understanding series). His most recent books are "Back to First Principles": A Conversation with George Washington (2013) and A Year with America's Founders: 365 Days of Wisdom and Insight from Our Founding Fathers (2015).

Due to budget and staffing concerns, Parry was released from his position at Deseret Book in November 2008. After working as a freelance editor for over a year, he once again returned to employment for the Church in 2010, working as a writer and editor for the Church History Department. One of his major assignments was to serve as lead editor in producing Mountain Meadows Massacre: Collected Legal Papers, which was published by University of Oklahoma Press (2017). In 2017 he joined the editorial staff of the Joseph Smith Papers.

Parry has been an active participant in the Brigham Young University's Education Week every year since 1999. Education Week is an annual event of adult continuing education where hundreds of classes and workshops are held on the BYU campus. Parry teaches up to three series of classes a year (each series consisting of four different classes), focusing on topics that involve better understanding of the LDS Church's teachings. He has also taught several classes in conjunction with his brother, Donald W. Parry, referencing the books they have authored together. Two of his presentations were taped and are shown periodically on BYU-TV.

Parry left NCCS in 1993 and started working for Latter-day Saint publisher Deseret Book in 1994 as an associate editor. This position fostered a relationship between Parry and the publisher through which he began to publish more of his own works. In April 1998, Parry, along with his brother, Donald W. Parry, published the first installment in their Understanding series, a collection of texts explaining the more difficult concepts of Christian and LDS doctrine through critical analysis and scriptural references. It was also during his time at Deseret Book that Parry compiled and edited the Best-Loved and Everyday books, two series that gathered inspirational stories and poems on different topics, each book revolving around a specific theme.

In 1985, Parry began working for the National Center for Constitutional Studies (NCCS), a non-profit constitutionalist organization founded by faith-based political theorist W. Cleon Skousen. Parry performed writing and editing duties for the Center's publications. It was during this time that he co-authored The Real George Washington, a biography of President George Washington published in 1991, written with Skousen and Andrew M. Allison, which coincides with the NCCS's view that the founding of the United States was a divine miracle. Political commentator Glenn Beck has recommended this book numerous times, causing it to have a resurgence in popularity starting in 2008.

In 1982, Parry, in collaboration with Information Design, published The Santa Claus Book under the pseudonym Alden Perkes, a humorous Christmas book explaining the origins and mechanics of many Christmas folktales. He was invited as a guest on Good Morning America, where he was interviewed about the book by co-host Joan Lunden.

While in college, Parry worked for the BYU Press as a proofreader and copy editor. This led to him obtaining employment as associate editor for the Church's Ensign magazine from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s.

Parry is good friends with author Orson Scott Card. They met while working together for BYU Press in the early 1970s and later worked together at the Ensign magazine. They have collaborated on several projects, including the short story "In the Doghouse", originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact and later compiled into a collection of Card's short stories, Maps in a Mirror. Another collection of Card's short stories, Capitol, is dedicated to Parry, and reads: "To Jay A. Parry, who has read everything and made it better."

Jay Atwell Parry (born October 12, 1950) is an American author. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his LDS nonfiction and his books about George Washington.