Tananarive Priscilla Due ( ) (born January 5, 1966) is an American author and educator. Due won the

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

for her novel '' The Living Blood''. She is also known as a film historian with expertise in Black horror. Due teaches a course at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

called "The Sunken Place: Racism, Survival and the Black Horror Aesthetic", which focuses on the

Jordan Peele Jordan Haworth Peele (born February 21, 1979) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his film and television work in the comedy and horror genres. Peele's breakout role came in 2003, when he was hired as a cast membe ...

film ''

Get Out ''Get Out'' is a 2017 American psychological horror film written, co-produced, and directed by Jordan Peele in his directorial debut. It stars Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Lil Rel Howery, LaKeith Stanfield, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landr ...

''.

Early life and education

Due was born in

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In ...

, the oldest of three daughters of civil rights activist Patricia Stephens Due and civil rights lawyer John D. Due Jr. Her mother named her after the French name for

Antananarivo Antananarivo ( French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("Antananarivo-Mother Hill" or "An ...

, the capital of

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

.''Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights'', by Patricia Stephens Due and Tananarive Due (Ballantine, 2003) Due earned a B.S. in journalism from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

Medill School of Journalism The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications is a constituent school of Northwestern University that offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. It frequently ranks as the top school of journalism in the Unite ...

and an M.A. in English literature, with an emphasis on

Nigerian literature Nigerian literature may be roughly defined as the literary writing by citizens of the nation of Nigeria for Nigerian readers, addressing Nigerian issues. This encompasses writers in a number of languages, including not only English but Igbo, Urho ...

, from the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

.Tananarive Due – Author
/ref> At Northwestern, she lived in the Communications Residential College.

Career

Due was working as a journalist and columnist for the ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a List of communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida, city in western Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and the M ...

'' when she wrote her first novel, ''

The Between ''The Between'' (1995) is the first novel by writer Tananarive Due. It was nominated for the 1996 Bram Stoker Award. Plot A middle-class African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ...

'', in 1995.Alumni News – Fall 2001
/ref> This, like many of her subsequent books, was part of the supernatural genre. Due also wrote ''

The Black Rose ''The Black Rose'' is a 1950 American-British adventure film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Tyrone Power and Orson Welles. Talbot Jennings' screenplay was loosely based on a 1945 novel of the same name by Canadian author Thomas B. C ...

'', a historical novel about

Madam C. J. Walker Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove; December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the '' G ...

(based in part on research conducted by

Alex Haley Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (August 11, 1921 – February 10, 1992) was an American writer and the author of the 1976 book '' Roots: The Saga of an American Family.'' ABC adapted the book as a television miniseries of the same name and a ...

before his death) and '' Freedom in the Family'', a non-fiction work about the civil rights struggle. She contributed to the humor novel ''

Naked Came the Manatee ''Naked Came the Manatee'' () is a mystery thriller parody novel published in 1996. It is composed of thirteen chapters, each written by a different Miami-area writer. It was originally published as a serial in the ''Miami Herald's'' ''Tropic'' m ...

'', a mystery/thriller parody to which various

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

-area authors each contributed chapters. Due also authored the ''African Immortals'' novel series and the ''Tennyson Hardwick'' novels. Due is a member of the affiliate faculty in the creative writing MFA program at

Antioch University Los Angeles Antioch University Los Angeles (AULA) is a campus of Antioch University in Culver City, California. Background Antioch College was founded in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Horace Mann, Antioch College’s first president's goal was to create an educati ...

and is also an

endowed A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to the will of its founders and donors. Endowments are of ...

Cosby chair in the humanities at

Spelman College Spelman College is a private, historically black, women's liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. It is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman re ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. She developed a course at

called "The Sunken Place: Racism, Survival And The Black Horror Aesthetic," after the release of the 2017 film ''

.'' The first course went viral and included a visit from Peele. Due was featured in the 2019 documentary film '' Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror'', produced by

Shudder Shudder may refer to: *Shivering * ''Shudder'' (album), a 2008 album by American band Bayside *Shudder (streaming service) Shudder is an American over-the-top subscription video on demand service featuring horror, thriller and supernatural fic ...

Personal life

Due is married to author

Steven Barnes Steven Barnes (born March 1, 1952) is an American science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writer. He has written novels, short fiction, screen plays for television, scripts for comic books, animation, newspaper copy, and magazine articles. Career ...

, whom she met in 1997 at a Clark Atlanta University panel on "The African-American Fantastic Imagination: Explorations in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror". The couple lives in the Los Angeles, California area with their son, Jason.

Bibliography

Novels

Speculative fiction

* ''

'' (1995) * '' The Good House'' (2003) * '' Joplin's Ghost'' (2005) * '' Ghost Summer: Stories'' (2015)

=African Immortals series

= * '' My Soul to Keep'' (1997) * '' The Living Blood'' (2001) * '' Blood Colony'' (2008) * ''

My Soul To Take ''My Soul to Take'' is a 2010 American slasher film written and directed by Wes Craven. It is his first film since 1994's ''Wes Craven's New Nightmare'' that he wrote, produced, and directed. The film stars Max Thieriot as Adam "Bug" Hellerman, ...

'' (2011)

Mysteries

* ''

'' (1996) (contributor)

=The Tennyson Hardwick novels

= * '' Casanegra'' (2007; with

Blair Underwood Blair Erwin Underwood (born August 25, 1964) is an American actor. He made his debut in the 1985 musical film ''Krush Groove'' and from 1987 to 1994 starred as attorney Jonathan Rollins in the NBC legal drama series ''L.A. Law''. Underwood has a ...

and

) * ''In the Night of the Heat'' (2008; with Blair Underwood and Steven Barnes) * ''From Cape Town with Love'' (2010; with Blair Underwood and Steven Barnes) * ''South by Southeast'' (2012; with Blair Underwood and Steven Barnes)

Short stories

* "Like Daughter", '' Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora'' (2000) * "Trial Day", '' Mojo: Conjure Stories'' (2003) * "Aftermoon", '' Dark Matter: Reading the Bones'' (2004) * "Senora Suerte", ''

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher a ...

''Review of "Senora Suerte"
by Eugie Foster, July 2006 (2006) * "The Lake" (2011) * "Enhancement", ''Whose Future is It?'' (2018) *"The Wishing Pool" (2021)

Other works

* ''

'', historical fiction about

"Books in Brief: Fiction; Making It Big in Hair"
By Charles Wilson, ''

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 ...

'', August 27, 2000. (2000) * '' Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights'' (2003) (with Patricia Stephens Due) *''Devil's Wake'' (with Steven Barnes) (2012) *''Domino Falls'' (2013) *''Ghost Summer'' (Collection) (2015)

Awards and recognition

* Nominated for a

Bram Stoker Award The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented annually by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in dark fantasy and horror writing. History The Awards were established in 1987 and have been presented annually since 1 ...

for Superior Achievement in a First Novel for ''

'' * Nominated for a

for Best Novel for '' My Soul to Keep''Introduction by

Gardner Dozois Gardner Raymond Dozois ( ; July 23, 1947 – May 27, 2018) was an American people, American science fiction author and editing, editor. He was the founding editor of ''The Year's Best Science Fiction'' anthologies (1984–2018) and was editor of ...

to "Patient Zero" by Tananarive Due in '' The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eighteenth Annual Collection'', p. 491. * Nominated for an

NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

for ''

'' * Received the NAACP Image Award for ''In the Night of the Heat: A Tennyson Hardwick Novel'' (with Blair Underwood and Steven Barnes) * The

for '' The Living Blood'' * 2008 Carl Brandon Kindred Award for the novella "Ghost Summer", which appeared in the anthology ''The Ancestors'' (2008) * Winner of the 2016

British Fantasy Award The British Fantasy Awards (BFA) are awarded annually by the British Fantasy Society (BFS), first in 1976. Prior to that they were known as The August Derleth Fantasy Awards (see August Derleth Award). First awarded in 1972 (to ''The Knight of S ...

for the short story collection ''Ghost Summer''. * Winner of the 2020

Ignyte Award The Ignyte Awards are an annual literary award for the best science fiction, fantasy, and horror works and achievements of the previous year. Established in 2020 by writers L. D. Lewis and Suzan Palumbo as an off-shoot of '' FIYAH Literary Maga ...

for Best in Creative Nonfiction for ''Black Horror Rising,'' published in

Uncanny Magazine ''Uncanny Magazine'' is an American science fiction and fantasy online magazine, edited and published by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, based in Urbana, Illinois. Its mascot is a space unicorn. The editors-in-chief, who originally ...

(2019)

References

External links

Official website
*
Tananarive Due: 'My Soul to Keep'
��Interview on ''

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 ...

'',

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

, October 31, 1997 (Audio) {{DEFAULTSORT:Due, Tananarive 1966 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers 21st-century American women writers African-American novelists African-American short story writers African-American women writers Afrofuturist writers American horror writers American science fiction writers American women novelists American women short story writers Black speculative fiction authors Medill School of Journalism alumni People from Longview, Washington The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction people Women horror writers Women science fiction and fantasy writers Writers from Tallahassee, Florida American Book Award winners Novelists from Florida 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American writers

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

Bibliography

Novels

Speculative fiction

=African Immortals series

Mysteries

=The Tennyson Hardwick novels

Short stories

Other works

Awards and recognition

See also

References

External links