Brit Bennett facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Brit Bennett
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| Born | 1989/1990 (age 34–35) Oceanside, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Education | Stanford University (BA) University of Michigan (MFA) |
| Notable works | "I Don't Know What to Do With Good White People" (2014) The Mothers (2016) The Vanishing Half (2020) |
Brit Bennett is a popular American writer who lives in Los Angeles. She is known for her amazing novels. Her first novel, The Mothers (published in 2016), became a New York Times best-seller.
Her second novel, The Vanishing Half (published in 2020), was also a huge success. It became a number-one New York Times best-seller. This book was even chosen for the Good Morning America Book Club. The Vanishing Half was also named one of The New York Times' ten best books of 2020.
Early Life and Education
Brit Bennett grew up in Southern California. She went to Stanford University and earned a degree in English. Later, she studied at the University of Michigan to get an advanced degree in writing. She also spent some time studying at Oxford University in England.
Writing Career
While Brit Bennett was still studying at the University of Michigan, she wrote an essay in 2014. It was called "I Don't Know What to Do With Good White People" and was published on the website Jezebel. This essay became very popular, getting over a million views in just three days!
During her time at Michigan, she also won some important writing awards. These included a Hopwood Award for her short stories and the 2014 Hurston/Wright Award for college writers.
Since then, she has written other non-fiction essays. One essay for the Paris Review was about the history of black dolls, called "Addy Walker, American Girl." She also wrote a review of a book by Ta-Nehisi Coates for The New Yorker. The magazine Vogue said that her essays are very good at connecting today's world with past events.
The Mothers
In 2016, Brit Bennett's first novel, The Mothers, was published. It was released by Riverhead Books and quickly became very popular with critics and readers. The book became a New York Times best-seller.
The New York Times said The Mothers was one of the biggest new books of that fall. It sold over 100,000 copies right away. Reviewers from Booklist, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly all gave it great reviews. Brit Bennett was also named one of the "5 under 35" promising new novelists by the National Book Foundation.
The Mothers was nominated for the 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Debut Author. In 2017, Warner Bros. announced they would make The Mothers into a movie. The famous actress Kerry Washington is one of the producers for the film.
The Vanishing Half
In 2020, Brit Bennett's second book, The Vanishing Half, was also published by Riverhead Books. This novel was an even bigger hit! It reached the number-one spot on The New York Times best-seller list in June 2020.
The Vanishing Half was chosen as a book for the Good Morning America Book Club. It was also named one of The New York Times' ten best books of 2020. The novel was a finalist for the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction. It also won the 2020 Goodreads Choice Award for Historical Fiction.
The Washington Post newspaper said The Vanishing Half explores how people create new identities for themselves. Just one month after the book came out, HBO bought the rights to turn it into a TV series. Brit Bennett will be an executive producer for the show.
American Girl
In 2022, Brit Bennett worked with American Girl to create a new character. American Girl makes popular dolls and books about different historical periods. The new character is a Black girl named Claudie Wells. Her stories are set in 1922 during the Harlem Renaissance, a time when Black art and culture thrived.
The American Girl team asked Brit Bennett to write for them after seeing her social media posts. She had tweeted about wanting to write an American Girl book! Brit Bennett loved American Girl dolls and books when she was a child, especially the character Addy. She also admired the books written by Connie Porter.
To create Claudie, Brit Bennett worked with a team of researchers and historians. This helped make sure the character and her stories were accurate. She has written two books in this series so far: Meet Claudie (2022) and Adventures with Claudie (2023).
