Susan Straight (born October 19, 1960) is an American writer. She was a

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

finalist for the novel ''Highwire Moon'' in 2001.

Biography

Susan Straight attended

John W. North High School John W. North High School is a public high school in Riverside, California, part of the Riverside Unified School District, and the home of the Huskies. It is an International Baccalaureate school. History John Wesley North High School was establ ...

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...

and took classes at

Riverside Community College Riverside City College (RCC) is a public community college in Riverside, California. The college is part of the Riverside Community College District, as well as the larger California Community Colleges System. History RCC first opened in 1916 at ...

while in high school. She went on to earn a scholarship to the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

and, in 1984, earned her M.F.A. from the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

MFA Program for Poets & Writers MFA may refer to: Organizations * Marine and Fisheries Agency, a former UK government executive agency * Ministry of Foreign Affairs (including a list of ministries with the name) * Movement of the Forces of the Future (french: Mouvement des Forc ...

. She co-founded the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing & Writing for the Performing Arts program at

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

, where she is currently a Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing and the director of the graduate program. Straight has published six novels, a novel for young readers and a children's book. She has also written essays and articles for numerous national publications, including ''

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 ...

'', ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

'' and ''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...

'', and is a frequent contributor to ''

NPR 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 ''

Salon.com ''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events. Content and coverage ''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including re ...

''. Her story "Mines," first published in '' Zoetrope All Story'', was included in

Best American Short Stories 2003 ''The Best American Short Stories 2003'', a volume in ''The Best American Short Stories series'', was edited by Katrina Kennison and by guest editor Walter Mosley.Molly McQuade, Realism re-examined ; Short-story anthologies and collections that of ...

. Straight lives in

. She has three daughters.

Awards and honors

*1990 Milkweed National Fiction Prize for ''Aquaboogie'' *2001 finalist,

National Book Award for Fiction The National Book Award for Fiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which recognize outstanding literary work by United States citizens. Since 1987 the awards have been administered and presented by the National Book Foundation, but ...

for ''Highwire Moon'' *2007

Lannan Literary Award The Lannan Literary Awards are a series of awards and literary fellowships given out in various fields by the Lannan Foundation. Established in 1989, the awards are meant "to honor both established and emerging writers whose work is of exceptional ...

(Fiction) *2008

Edgar Allan Poe Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

for short story "The Golden Gopher". *2013

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes currently have nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), history, mystery/thriller ( ...

Robert Kirsch Award.

Bibliography

Novels

* *''I Been in Sorrow's Kitchen and Licked Out All the Pots'' (1993) *''Blacker Than a Thousand Midnights'' (1995) *''The Gettin' Place'' (1997) * ''Highwire Moon'' (2001) – finalist for the National Book Award *'' A Million Nightingales'' (2006) *''Take One Candle Light a Room'' (2010) *''Between Heaven and Here'' (2012) *''Mecca'' (2022)

Short fiction

*"Mines," ''The

Best American Short Stories The Best American Short Stories yearly anthology is a part of ''The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the BASS anthology has striven to contain the best short stories by some of the best-known writers in con ...

2003'' (2003) *"Poinciana," ''The Cocaine Chronicles'' (2005) *"The Golden Gopher," ''Los Angeles Noir'' (2007) *"El Ojo de Agua," ''The

O. Henry Prize The O. Henry Award is an annual American award given to short stories of exceptional merit. The award is named after the American short-story writer O. Henry. The ''PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories'' is an annual collection of the year's twenty bes ...

Stories 2007'' (2007) *"The Princess of Valencia,"

Amazon Original Stories Amazon Publishing (simply APub) is Amazon's book publishing unit launched in 2009. It is composed of 15 imprints including AmazonEncore, AmazonCrossing, Montlake Romance, Thomas & Mercer, 47North, and TOPPLE Books. Amazon publishes e-books via ...

(2018) *"The Perseids," ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...

'' (2018)

For younger readers

*''Bear E. Bear'' (1995) *''The Friskative Dog'' (2007)

Nonfiction

* ''In the Country of Women'' (2019)

Essays, reporting and other contributions

*''Race: An Anthology in the First Person'' (essay, "Letter to My Daughters") (1997) *''Mothers Who Think: Tales of Real-Life Parenthood'' (essay, "One Drip at a Time") (1999) *''When Race Becomes Real: Black and White Writers Confront Their Personal Histories'' (essay, "Country Music") (2002) *''Life As We Know It: A Collection of Personal Essays from Salon.com'' (essay, "Love Me, Love My Guns") (2003) *''Dog Is My Co-Pilot: Great Writers on the World's Oldest Friendship'' (essay, "Brave and Noble Is the Preschool Dog") (2003) *''Some of My Best Friends: Writers on Interracial Friendships'' (essay, "Cartilage") (2004) *''

Little Women ''Little Women'' is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888). Alcott wrote the book, originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869, at the request of her publisher. The story follows the lives ...

'' (afterword) (2004) *''Because I Said So: 33 Mothers Write About Children, Sex, Men, Aging, Faith, Race, and Themselves '' (essay, "The Belly Unbuttoned") (2005) *''I Married My Mother-in-law And Other Tales of In-laws We Can't Live With - And Can't Live Without'' (essay, "A Family You Can't Divorce") (2006) *''Inlandia: A Literary Journey Through California's Inland Empire'' (introduction) (2006) *
Bad Girls: 26 Writers Misbehave
' (essay, "Reckless") (July 2007) *''The Show I'll Never Forget: 50 Writers Relive Their Most Memorable Concertgoing Experience'' (essay, "The Funk Festival at Los Angeles Coliseum, Los Angeles, May 26, 1979") (2007) *

References

External links

*
Essays by Susan Straight
at

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

Creative Writing & Writing for the Performing Arts
Master's degree program at

UC-Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

Straight's Introduction to the Inlandia anthology

The UMass MFA Program for Poets & Writers
* *Karen Grigsby Bates
"Author Susan Straight Takes Us 'In The Country Of Women'"
NPR, January 29, 2020. {{DEFAULTSORT:Straight, Susan 1960 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists Edgar Award winners Writers from Riverside, California University of California, Riverside faculty University of Massachusetts Amherst MFA Program for Poets & Writers alumni Riverside City College alumni 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers