Tananarive Priscilla Due ( ) (born January 5, 1966) is an American author and educator. Due won the American Book Award for her novel '' The Living Blood'' (2001), and the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel, the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel, and the World Fantasy Award for her novel '' The Reformatory'' (2023). She is also known as a film historian with expertise in Black horror. Due teaches a course 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 ...

called "The Sunken Place: Racism, Survival and the Black Horror Aesthetic", which focuses on the

Jordan Peele Jordan Haworth Peele (born February 21, 1979) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is known for his film and television work in the Comedy film, comedy and Horror film, horror genres. He has received List of awards and nominations r ...

film '' Get Out''.

Early life and education

Due was born in Tallahassee, Florida, the oldest of three daughters of civil rights activist Patricia Stephens Due and civil rights lawyer John D. Due Jr. Her mother named her after the French name for

Antananarivo Antananarivo (Malagasy language, Malagasy: ; French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known ...

, the capital of

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

.''Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights'', by Patricia Stephens Due and Tananarive Due (Ballantine, 2003) Due earned a B.S. in journalism from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

's Medill School of Journalism and an M.A. in English literature, with an emphasis on Nigerian literature, from the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

.Tananarive Due – Author
/ref> At Northwestern, she lived in the Communications Residential College.

Career

Due was working as a journalist and columnist for the ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by McClatchy, The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward County, Fl ...

'' when she wrote her first novel, ''

The Between ''The Between'' (1995) is the first novel by writer Tananarive Due. It was nominated for the 1996 Bram Stoker Award. Plot A middle-class African Americans, African American couple's life is shattered when the wife begins receiving death threa ...

'', in 1995.Alumni News – Fall 2001
/ref> This, like many of her subsequent books, was part of the supernatural genre. Due also wrote '' The Black Rose'', a historical novel about Madam C. J. Walker (based in part on research conducted by Alex Haley before his death) and '' Freedom in the Family'', a nonfiction work about the civil rights struggle. She contributed to the humor novel '' Naked Came the Manatee'', a mystery/thriller parody to which various

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

-area authors each contributed chapters. Due also authored the ''African Immortals'' novel series and the ''Tennyson Hardwick'' novels. Due is a member of the affiliate faculty in the creative writing MFA program at Antioch University Los Angeles and is also an endowed Cosby chair in the humanities at

Spelman College Spelman College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. She developed a course at

called "The Sunken Place: Racism, Survival and the Black Horror Aesthetic" after the release of the 2017 film '' Get Out.'' The first course went viral and included a visit from

. Due was featured in the 2019 documentary film '' Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror'', produced by Shudder. Her novel ''The Reformatory'' was published by Saga Press in 2023.

Personal life

Due is married to author Steven Barnes, whom she met in 1997 at a Clark Atlanta University panel on "The African-American Fantastic Imagination: Explorations in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror". The couple lives in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California area with their son, Jason.

Bibliography

Novels

Speculative fiction

* ''

'' (1995) * '' The Good House'' (2003) * '' Joplin's Ghost'' (2005) * '' Ghost Summer: Stories'' (2015) * '' The Reformatory'' (2023)

=''African Immortals'' series

= * '' My Soul to Keep'' (1997) * '' The Living Blood'' (2001) * '' Blood Colony'' (2008) * '' My Soul to Take'' (2011)

Mysteries

* '' Naked Came the Manatee'' (1996) (contributor)

=The Tennyson Hardwick novels

= * '' Casanegra'' (2007; with Blair Underwood and Steven Barnes) * ''In the Night of the Heat'' (2008; with Blair Underwood and Steven Barnes) * ''From Cape Town with Love'' (2010; with Blair Underwood and Steven Barnes) * ''South by Southeast'' (2012; with Blair Underwood and Steven Barnes)

Short stories

* "Like Daughter", '' Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora'' (2000) * "Trial Day", '' Mojo: Conjure Stories'' (2003) * "Aftermoon", '' Dark Matter: Reading the Bones'' (2004) * "Senora Suerte", ''

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science-fiction magazine, first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence E. Spivak, Lawrence Spiv ...

''Review of "Senora Suerte"
by Eugie Foster, July 2006 (2006) * "The Lake" (2011) * "Enhancement", ''Whose Future is It?'' (2018) *"The Wishing Pool" (2021)

Other works

* '' The Black Rose'', historical fiction about Madam C. J. Walker"Books in Brief: Fiction; Making It Big in Hair"
By Charles Wilson, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', August 27, 2000. (2000) * '' Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights'' (2003) (with Patricia Stephens Due) *''Devil's Wake'' (with Steven Barnes) (2012) *''Domino Falls'' (2013) *''Ghost Summer'' (Collection) (2015) *''The Keeper'' (with Steven Barnes) (2022) *''The Wishing Pool and Other Stories'' (Collection) (2023)

Awards and recognition

* Nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel for ''

'' * Nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel for '' My Soul to Keep''Introduction by

Gardner Dozois Gardner Raymond Dozois ( ; July 23, 1947 – May 27, 2018) was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the founding editor of '' The Year's Best Science Fiction'' anthologies (1984–2018) and was editor of '' Asimov's Science Fict ...

to "Patient Zero" by Tananarive Due in '' The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eighteenth Annual Collection'', p. 491. * Nominated for an

NAACP Image Award 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 ...

for '' The Black Rose'' * Received the NAACP Image Award for ''In the Night of the Heat: A Tennyson Hardwick Novel'' (with Blair Underwood and Steven Barnes) * The American Book Award for '' The Living Blood'' * 2008 Carl Brandon Kindred Award for the novella "Ghost Summer", which appeared in the anthology ''The Ancestors'' (2008) * Winner of the 2016 British Fantasy Award for the short story collection ''Ghost Summer''. * Winner of the 2020 Ignyte Award for Best in Creative Nonfiction for ''Black Horror Rising,'' published in

Uncanny Magazine ''Uncanny Magazine'' is an American science fiction magazine, science fiction and Fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy online magazine founded by publishing editors Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas. History First issued in 2014, the pu ...

(2019) * Winner of the 2022 Ember Award "for unsung contributions to genre" * Winner of the 2023 World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction for "Incident at Bear Creek Lodge," published in ''Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology'' * Winner of the 2023 Shirley Jackson Award for best novel for ''The Reformatory''. * Winner of the 2023 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel for ''The Reformatory.'' * Winner of the 2024 Chautauqua Prize for ''The Reformatory.'' * Winner of the 2024 World Fantasy Award for ''The Reformatory.'' * Winner of the 2024 L.A. Times Book Prize for science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction for ''The Reformatory.''

References

External links

Official website
*
Book review, ''The Reformatory'' by Tananarive Due
November 11, 2023 on NPR {{DEFAULTSORT:Due, Tananarive 1966 births Living people 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century African-American writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers 21st-century American women writers African-American novelists African-American short story writers Afrofuturist writers American Book Award winners American horror writers American science fiction writers American women horror writers American women novelists American women science fiction and fantasy writers American women short story writers Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel winners The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction people Medill School of Journalism alumni Novelists from Florida People from Longview, Washington Speculative fiction writers of African descent Writers from Tallahassee, Florida African-American women short story writers