Kenji Jasper (born 1975) is an American writer and journalist. He has worked in writing and journalism for over 20 years.

Early life and career, and education

Kenji Jasper was born in 1975 and was raised in

Fairfax Village Fairfax Village is a small neighborhood of garden apartments and townhouses located in southeast Washington, D.C. in the Hillcrest area. It is bound by Alabama Avenue SE to the northwest, Pennsylvania Avenue Pennsylvania Avenue is a diagonal ...

in southeast Washington, D.C. He attended Thomas Jefferson Middle School and

Benjamin Banneker Academic High School Benjamin Banneker Academic High School is a magnet high school located in Washington, D.C., that was originally built to serve as a neighborhood Junior High School. The school's name commemorates Benjamin Banneker, an African-American scientist, s ...

. His career begin with an article as an intern for ''

The Washington Informer ''The Washington Informer'' is a weekly newspaper published in Washington, D.C. ''The Informer'' is female-owned and is targeted at the African-American population of the D.C. metropolitan area. The publisher is Denise Rolark Barnes, whose fathe ...

'' newspaper at the age of 13. A year later at age 14, he became a contributor to Black Entertainment Television's ''YSB'' magazine, and later worked as a writer and instructor at The Institute for the Preservation and Study of African American Writing. He also served as an on-air personality for WTTG Fox 5's ''Newsbag'' (1986 to 1987), and later as one of the founding cast members of Black Entertainment Television's Teen Summit (1989 to 1993). Jasper got a degree from Morehouse College in 1997. By the time he graduated from college, his journalism had appeared in ''

VIBE ''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down producti ...

'', ''

Essence Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...

'', ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

'', ''Upscale'', ''

The Charlotte Observer ''The Charlotte Observer'' is an American English-language newspaper serving Charlotte, North Carolina, and its metro area. The Observer was founded in 1886. As of 2020, it has the second-largest circulation of any newspaper in the Carolinas. I ...

'', ''

The San Diego Union Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'', and ''The Atlanta Tribune''.

Career

He wrote his first novel, ''Dark'', at the age of 21.NPR Story
/ref> It has since been released in the United Kingdom and translated into French. It was later optioned to be made into a film by State Street Pictures (''Soul Food'', ''Barbershop'', ''Roll Bounce'') and

Fox Searchlight Pictures Searchlight Pictures, Inc. is an American film production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is part of the Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. for 20th Century Fox (later 20th Century Stu ...

. His second novel, ''Dakota Grand'', was published in September 2002 and was praised by ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'', ''VIBE'', ''Essence'', ''

The Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' and Africana.com. His third novel, ''Seeking Salamanca Mitchell'', was published in July 2004.''The House on Childress Street'', a memoir about his maternal grandfather, grandmother and their children, was published in 2005. He co-edited and contributed to ''Beats, Rhymes and Life: What We Love and Hate About Hip-Hop'', a critical collection anthology of critical writings on hip-hop culture, co-edited by Ytasha Womack, which was published by Harlem Moon Books in 2007. Jasper's fourth novel, ''Snow'', was published in 2007 by VIBE Books. Jasper has contributed articles and essays to

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

, ''

'', ''

'' and ''Essence'' among many other publications. In the early 2000s he was co-editing ''Beats, Rhymes and Life'', a collection of critical writings on hip-hop culture, with writer and director Ytasha Womack, for publication in May 2007. He was also the CEO and Editor of The Armory, a publishing partnership with

Akashic Books Akashic Books is a Brooklyn-based independent publisher. Akashic Books' collection began with Arthur Nersesian's ''The Fuck Up'' in 1997, and has since expanded to include Dennis Cooper's "Little House on the Bowery" series, Chris Abani's Blac ...

. Its first release, ''Got'' by first-time author D, was published in 2007. Jasper published ''The House on Childress Street'' in January 2006.

Publications

* * * * * * Nominated as the year's best short story by

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the Edgar Awa ...

. *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jasper, Kenji Living people American male novelists American male non-fiction writers 1975 births