Danzy Senna facts for kids

Danzy Senna (born September 13, 1970) is an American writer. She writes novels and essays. She has written six books and many essays. Her writing often explores topics like race, gender, and what it means to be American.

Some of her well-known books include Caucasia (1998), Symptomatic (2003), New People (2017), and Colored Television (2024). Her work has appeared in famous magazines like The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The New York Times. Danzy Senna is also a professor of English at the University of Southern California.

Early Life and Education

Danzy Senna was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1970. She is the middle of three children. Her parents had very different backgrounds. Her mother, Fanny Howe, is a white poet and novelist from Boston. Her father, Carl Senna, was an editor and author. He was the son of a Black jazz musician and a Mexican boxer.

Danzy's parents married in 1968. This was the year after marriage between people of different races became legal in the United States. They divorced in 1976. Danzy and her siblings spent time with both parents as they grew up. Her father wanted his children to understand their Black heritage.

Danzy went to Boston Public Schools. She also took classes at the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts. This school was for Black children in Roxbury. Later, she traveled to a different school through a program called METCO. This program helped to desegregate schools. She finished high school in 1988.

Senna went to Stanford University and earned a degree in American Studies. She later received a special writing degree (MFA) from the University of California, Irvine. While there, she wrote her first novel, Caucasia. This book has won many awards. It is now required reading in many college classes.

After college, she lived in Brooklyn, New York, for many years. The atmosphere there inspired some of her later writing. She moved to Southern California in 2005. She is married to the novelist Percival Everett. They have two children and live near Los Angeles.

Her Books

Caucasia

Caucasia (1998) was Danzy Senna's first novel. It tells the story of a young biracial girl named Birdie Lee. Birdie's mother takes her into hiding, and Birdie has to live under a new name. The story follows Birdie as she grows up and tries to find her identity. She also searches for the missing parts of her family.

This novel won the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction. It also received the Alex Award from the American Library Association. Caucasia was a national bestseller. It has been translated into ten languages.

Symptomatic

Her second novel, Symptomatic (2004), is a suspenseful story. It is told by a young woman who moves to New York City. She gets a dream job writing for a respected magazine. But she feels out of place. She is unsure where she fits in the world.

She meets an older woman who also has a mixed heritage. The older woman becomes very interested in her. As this interest turns into an obsession, the young woman must figure out their relationship. Both of their lives seem to spin out of control.

Where Did You Sleep Last Night?

After her first two novels, Senna wrote a memoir (a true story about her own life). It is called Where Did You Sleep Last Night?: A Personal History (2009). In this book, she shares the story of her parents. Her mother was a white woman from a well-known Boston family. Her father was of African-American and Mexican descent.

Senna remembers her father wanting his children to understand their racial identity. In the book, she looks back at her parents' divorce. She also explores the family histories they tried to overcome.

You Are Free

You Are Free (2011) is a collection of short stories. Critics said these stories offer a fresh look at being young, smart, and biracial in modern America. In one story, a woman gets strange letters from a girl who says she is her daughter. This makes the woman think about the life she hasn't lived.

Another story shows a new mother hosting an old friend who is still single. They both feel pity and envy for each other. The first story in the collection is about a liberal couple. They face tension after their son gets into an elite daycare school. They had only applied to the school as a joke.

New People

Senna's 2017 book, New People, is about a mixed-race couple, Maria and Khalil. They live in Fort Greene, a neighborhood known for Black artists in the 1990s. They seem like a perfect couple. But Maria becomes obsessed with a Black poet she barely knows.

The novel was partly inspired by Senna's interest in the Jonestown massacre. The New Yorker praised the book for making fun of the fake artistic scene in Brooklyn. Time magazine listed it as one of the Top Ten Novels of 2017.

Colored Television

Senna's most recent novel, Colored Television (2024), is about a biracial novelist. She is writing a big novel about mixed-race identity. But she decides to stop writing books and try a career in television.

This novel was chosen for the Good Morning America Book Club. Critics gave it many positive reviews. The Washington Post called it brilliant and unique. The Los Angeles Times said it was "the New Great American Novel." Kirkus Reviews called it "brilliant, of-the-moment, just really almost perfect."

Awards and Honors

• 2002: Whiting Award
• 2004: Fellow, New York Public Library's Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers
• 2017: Dos Passos Prize
• Book of the Month Award for First Fiction (for Caucasia)
• Alex Award (for Caucasia)
• Longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award (for Caucasia)
• Listed as a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year (for Caucasia)

Books

• Caucasia, 1998. Riverhead Books: New York. ISBN: 9781573220910.
• Symptomatic: A Novel, 2003. Riverhead Books: New York. ISBN: 9781573222754.
• Where Did You Sleep Last Night?: A Personal History, 2009. Farrar, Straus and Giroux: New York. ISBN: 9780374289157.
• You Are Free: Stories, 2011. Riverhead Books: New York. ISBN: 9781594485077.
• New People, 2017. Riverhead Books: New York. ISBN: 9781594487095.
• Colored Television, 2024. Riverhead Books: New York. ISBN: 9780593544372.