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 choosin ...

, 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") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

. 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 foll ...

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 ...

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 land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...

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 individu ...

"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 n ...

'' 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 2 ...

'', 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 Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American former television journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show '' Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg LP. Rose also co- ...

'' and '' The Brian Lehrer Show''. 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 New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

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 {{US-journalist-1960s-stub