Zakiya Dalila Harris is an American author known for her bestselling debut novel ''

The Other Black Girl ''The Other Black Girl'' is a 2021 novel by Zakiya Dalila Harris. The debut novel follows a woman who is the only Black person working at a publishing company. It was sold at auction to Atria Publishing Group for over $1 million. A television se ...

''.

Early life and education

Harris was born and raised in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. Her father, Frank Harris III, is a professor and former journalist for the ''

Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...

''. Her sister is writer and

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 ...

podcaster

Aisha Harris Aisha Harris is an American writer, editor, and podcaster. She was a staff writer, editor and podcast host at ''Slate'' before moving to the ''New York Times'' in 2018 as an editor. Since 2020, she has been a co-host and reporter for the NPR show ...

. Harris received her bachelor's degree from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

and her MFA in nonfiction creative writing from

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

Career

Harris spent nearly three years at Knopf/Doubleday, first as an editorial assistant then as assistant editor, before leaving to write her debut novel ''

''. Her essays and book reviews have appeared in

Guernica Guernica (, ), official name (reflecting the Basque language) Gernika (), is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the mu ...

and

The Rumpus ''The Rumpus'' is an online literary magazine launched on January 20, 2009. The site features interviews, book reviews, essays, comics, and critiques of creative culture as well as original fiction and poetry. The site runs two subscription-base ...

. 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 d ...

'' reported that

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

's Atria imprint won the rights to ''The Other Black Girl'' in a nine-way auction for a six figure sum against fourteen publishers prior to its release. ''The Other Black Girl'' was released on June 1, 2021 and received positive critical reception from outlets such as 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 ...

'' and ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

''. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' described it as "a glimpse into the publishing world and its original take on black professional women striving to hold on to their authentic selves and their stresses." A TV adaptation of this book is currently in development with

Tara Duncan ''Tara Duncan'' (full name Tara'tylanhnem T'al Barmi Ab Santa Ab Maru T'al Duncan) is the heroine of the eponymous series of bestselling novels in French written by Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian. Tara Duncan is a young girl who discovers she has st ...

Temple Hill Entertainment Temple Hill Entertainment or Temple Hill Productions is an American film and television production company, established in 2006 by producers Wyck Godfrey Wyck Godfrey is an American producer and executive. He is best known for producing ''The ...

, and

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

. Harris is co-writing the pilot with

Rashida Jones Rashida Leah Jones (; born February 25, 1976) is an American actress. Jones appeared as Louisa Fenn on the Fox drama series ''Boston Public'' (2000–2002), as Karen Filippelli on the NBC comedy series ''The Office'' (2006–2009; 2011), and as ...

Personal life

Harris resides in Brooklyn, New York.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Zakiya Dalila American women novelists African-American novelists African-American women writers The New School alumni University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Writers from Connecticut 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people Year of birth missing (living people) Living people