Natashia Deón (born December 6, 1978) is an American novelist, attorney, and activist. She was an

NAACP Image Awards The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. The over 40 ...

Nominee for her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

, ''Grace'', which also won the 2017 American Library Association's Black Caucus Award for Best Debut Fiction and was named one of ''The New York Times'' Critics’ Top Books of 2016 by critic Jennifer Senior. Her second novel, ''The Perishing'', was released on November 1, 2022 and received many accolades including being on multiple lists for favorite books of 2022.

Education and career

Law career

Deón graduated from high school at 16, finished her undergraduate degree from Cal State Long Beach at 19, and moved on to graduate from Trinity Law School with her law doctorate while still in her early 20s. She started practicing corporate law which took her to San Francisco, London, and Los Angeles. In 2010, she shifted her legal career to become a criminal defense attorney. In 2018, she founded the REDEEMED Project, which paired writers and lawyers with those convicted of crimes in order to help clear their criminal records and help them reenter society.

Writing and teaching career

Aside from her debut novel’s critical acclaim, ''Grace'' has also been translated into Mandarin. Deón completed her MFA from UC Riverside, Palm Desert, was a PEN America Fellow. She teaches writing at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and

Antioch University Antioch University is a private university with multiple campuses in the United States and online programs. It is the continuation of Antioch College, which was founded in 1852. Antioch College's first president was politician, abolitionist, and ...

and is a speaker with Blue Flower Arts, a literary speaking agency. She also founded the LA-based Dirty Laundry Lit reading series that was "equal parts party and reading."

Activism

In addition to her REDEEMED Project activism, in 2017, Deón was a U.S. Delegate to Armenia as part of the U.S. Embassy’s reconciliation efforts between Turkey and Armenia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deón, Natashia 1978 births Living people 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers African-American novelists American women essayists American women novelists Novelists from Los Angeles 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American women 21st-century American women academics