Danzy Senna & Chris L. Terry
About the event
Danzy Senna in conversation with Chris L. Terry
May 17, 2018
Danzy Senna is the author of three novels, a memoir and a short-story collection along with numerous essays centering on the issues of identity, motherhood, gender and race. Her first book, Caucasia, has been translated into ten languages, won the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction, and was named one of the LA Times Best Books of the Year in 1998. Her most recent novel, New People, has been named a Best Book of the Year by the New York Times Book Review, Vogue, Time Magazine, NPR and The Root. Book Page called New People, “ . . . blazing, unstoppable . . . a fast, darkly funny read.” Newsday said, “. . . its compound of caustic observations and shrewd characterizations could only have emerged from a writer as finely tuned to her social milieu as [Jane] Austen was to hers.” Ms Senna was born and raised in Boston. She earned a BS from Stanford University and an MFA in creative writing from the University of California, Irvine. Ms Senna was the recipient of the 2016 Dos Passos Prize for Literature. She presently lives in South Pasadena and is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Southern California.
Chris L. Terry is the son of an African-American father and an Irish-American mother and he describes Senna's book, Caucasia, as "a formative read" for him as a young man. He was born in Boston, raised in Richmond, Virginia and spent his youth touring the US and Europe as a singer for various punk rock bands. He has a BA from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Creative Writing MFA from Columbia College, Chicago. In the past, he has worked in book publishing and taught creative writing to juvenile inmates. His debut novel, Zero Fade, was on the American Library Association's Best of 2013 list. His second novel, to be published in 2019, is a supernatural satire about a mixed-race punk rock musician who is trying to win his Black Card -- his credibility as a black person. A resident of LA since 2013, he is currently a PEN Center USA Artist in Residence.
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Danzy Senna
Danzy Senna is the author of three novels, a memoir and a short-story collection along with numerous essays centering on the issues of identity, motherhood, gender and race. Her first book, Caucasia, has been translated into ten languages, won the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction, and was named one of the LA Times Best Books of the Year in 1998. Her most recent novel, New People, has been named a Best Book of the Year by the New York Times Book Review, Vogue, Time Magazine, NPR and The Root. Book Page called New People, “ . . . blazing, unstoppable . . . a fast, darkly funny read.” Newsday said, “. . . its compound of caustic observations and shrewd characterizations could only have emerged from a writer as finely tuned to her social milieu as [Jane] Austen was to hers.” Ms. Senna was born and raised in Boston. She earned a BS from Stanford University and an MFA in creative writing from the University of California, Irvine. Ms. Senna was the recipient of the 2016 Dos Passos Prize for Literature. She presently lives in South Pasadena and is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Southern California.
Chris L. Terry
Chris L. Terry is the son of an African-American father and an Irish-American mother and he describes Senna’s book, Caucasia, as “a formative read” for him as a young man. He was born in Boston, raised in Richmond, Virginia and spent his youth touring the US and Europe as a singer for various punk rock bands. He has a BA from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Creative Writing MFA from Columbia College, Chicago. In the past, he has worked in book publishing and taught creative writing to juvenile inmates. His debut novel, Zero Fade, was on the American Library Association’s Best of 2013 list. His second novel, to be published in 2019, is a supernatural satire about a mixed-race punk rock musician who is trying to win his Black Card — his credibility as a black person. A resident of LA since 2013, he is currently a PEN Center USA Artist in Residence.
