Dana Shawn Stevens (born June 30, 1966) is an American film critic who writes for
''Slate''. She is also a cohost of the magazine's weekly cultural
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
, the ''
Culture Gabfest
''Slate's Culture Gabfest'' is a New York-based podcast from ''Slate'' hosted by Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner. The show has been positively reviewed in ''The Guardian'', ''The Daily Telegraph'', The A.V. Club, and '' Kill Yo ...
''. She is the author of a 2022 book about
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...
and the 20th century titled ''Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century''.
Life and career
Stevens grew up in
Scarsdale, New York
Scarsdale is a town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several village ...
;
and
San Antonio, Texas
("Cradle of Freedom")
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, map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = United States
, subdivision_type1= State
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, subdivision_t ...
. She graduated from
Vassar College
Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...
and attained a
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
in
comparative literature
Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...
from
UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...
in 2001 with a dissertation on
Fernando Pessoa
Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa (; 13 June 1888 – 30 November 1935) was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher, and philosopher, described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and ...
: ''A Local Habitation and a Name: Heteronymy and Nationalism in the works of Fernando Pessoa''.
She joined ''Slate'' in mid-2003, writing the magazine's ''Surfergirl'' column on television and pop-culture.
Before joining Slate she wrote under the
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
"Liz Penn" on her own (now-defunct) website/blog called the High Sign.
She has written for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' Book World, ''
Bookforum
''Bookforum'' is an American book review magazine devoted to books and the discussion of literature that was based in New York City, New York. The magazine was founded in 1994 and announced in December of 2022 it would cease publishing after ...
'', and ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
''
and has appeared on several occasions on ''
Charlie Rose'' and ''
The Brian Lehrer Show
Brian Lehrer (born October 5, 1952) is an American radio talk show host on New York City's public radio station WNYC. His daily two-hour 2007 Peabody Award-winning program, ''. She is a regular on Slate's Culture Gabfest.
Stevens has described herself as "an atheist raised in culturally Christian milieu".
She lives in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
New York.
References
External links
Stevens' Slate archive*
1966 births
20th-century American journalists
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American journalists
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American women writers
American atheists
American bloggers
American film critics
National Society of Film Critics Members
American women podcasters
American podcasters
Living people
People from San Antonio
People from Scarsdale, New York
Slate (magazine) people
University of California, Berkeley alumni
Vassar College alumni
American women film critics
Writers from Brooklyn
American women bloggers
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