Reginald McKnight (born February 26, 1956) is an American

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

writer and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

Life

McKnight was born February 26, 1956 in Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany, to an

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

family; therefore, he moved around a lot in childhood, although he calls Colorado home. He earned degrees from

Pikes Peak Community College Pikes Peak State College is a public community college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It is the largest institution of higher education in the Pikes Peak region. PPSC offers more than 150 programs in liberal arts and sciences transfer and caree ...

(A.A.),

Colorado College Colorado College is a private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory, the college offers over 40 majors a ...

(B.A.) and

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1864, it has an enrollment of approximately 5,700 undergraduate students and 7,200 graduate students. It is classified among "R1: D ...

(M.A.); he is also

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

and received an honorary doctorate from

. As a teacher, McKnight has been a professor of English at the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

, and the

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Michigan is one of th ...

. He also taught at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

, but left when he learned that other faculty told racist jokes about black people when he wasn't in their presence. As of 2002, he is the

Hamilton Holmes Hamilton E. Holmes (8 July, 1941 – 26 October, 1995) was an American orthopedic physician. He and Charlayne Hunter-Gault were the first two African-American students admitted to the University of Georgia. Additionally, Holmes was the first Afr ...

Professor of English at the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

in Athens; he was also the first person to hold that position. McKnight has had two extended stays in Africa, teaching English in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

, from 1981 to 1982, and another in 1985 as part of a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. He says that "he didn't truly consider himself a writer until he went to Africa", partly because that he was writing intensely for several hours a day while he was there, and also because, as he states, "when I left that place I had done something to myself in a really profound way--imprinted myself with the written word in ways that I hadn't prior to that". He also states that after a few weeks there, he became more aware of what he calls his "Africanness" by recognizing the same cadences in the voices of Senegalese women that he knew listening to his mother and his aunts growing up.

Awards

* O. Henry Award * 1988

Drue Heinz Literature Prize The Drue Heinz Literature Prize is a major American literary award for short fiction in the English language. This prize of the University of Pittsburgh Press in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States was initiated in 1981 by Drue Heinz and d ...

* 1995

Whiting Award The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, ...

Works

* (reprint) * * * *

Editor

* *

Anthologies

References

External links

Profile at The Whiting Foundation
1956 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists African-American novelists American male novelists Writers from Colorado Springs, Colorado University of Georgia faculty University of Michigan faculty American male short story writers African-American short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Michigan Novelists from Colorado Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state) 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American writers African-American male writers {{UGeorgia-stub