Biography
Dana Crum is a poet and novelist. His fiction and poetry have appeared in books, magazines and journals, including The Source, Gumbo: An Anthology of African American Writing, The Innisfree Poetry Journal, Bronx Biannual, AP English Literature & Composition for Dummies, Writing, African Voices, Carve Magazine (carvezine.com), 64, Taking Root and Voices Rising. In 2003, NPR affiliate 91.5 FM WBEZ in Chicago broadcast a dramatic reading of his short story “My Heavenly Father” as part of its Stories on Stage series. Crum has also penned articles, which have appeared in AlterNet, Guernica, The Source, Black Issues Book Review, 360hiphop.com (now BET.com), Writing, Princeton Weekly Bulletin and princeton.edu.
Novelist Russell Banks has said Crum’s fiction possesses “true genius.” Marita Golden, a writer and the President Emeritus and Co-founder of The Hurston/Wright Foundation, added that Crum’s fiction “will be an important and much-needed new vision of African American male experience in contemporary America. … As a teacher and mentor to many emerging writers, I can endorse Dana without reservation as one of the two or three finest young writers I have worked with.”
“Dana,” novelist Christopher Chambers explained, “offers something different: care for craft, rich plots and complex characters... and themes we can all find engaging. Plus, he manages to be entertaining. It sounds trite, even stupid, that these qualities in his works of fiction and nonfiction/essays are ‘different, but we live in perilous times, where the stupid and garish are the norm, thus making us all stupid. Dana is a brother who's yanking us away from that, and thank the Lord!”
Novelist Russell Banks has said Crum’s fiction possesses “true genius.” Marita Golden, a writer and the President Emeritus and Co-founder of The Hurston/Wright Foundation, added that Crum’s fiction “will be an important and much-needed new vision of African American male experience in contemporary America. … As a teacher and mentor to many emerging writers, I can endorse Dana without reservation as one of the two or three finest young writers I have worked with.”
“Dana,” novelist Christopher Chambers explained, “offers something different: care for craft, rich plots and complex characters... and themes we can all find engaging. Plus, he manages to be entertaining. It sounds trite, even stupid, that these qualities in his works of fiction and nonfiction/essays are ‘different, but we live in perilous times, where the stupid and garish are the norm, thus making us all stupid. Dana is a brother who's yanking us away from that, and thank the Lord!”
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Crum was a semifinalist for the 2001 Raymond Carver Short Story Award at
the University of Washington and for the 1998 James Fellowship for the
Novel-in-Progress. In 2006, he served as a judge for the Hurston/Wright
Legacy Award (fiction category).
He received his BA in English from Princeton University and his MFA in Creative Writing from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Crum was born in Flint, Michigan. After spending his childhood in Birmingham, Alabama, he steadily made his way north: attending high school in DC, attending college in New Jersey and — after briefly reversing his northward journey to attend grad school in Virginia — settling in New York City.
By night, he writes poetry and fiction. By day, he has worked as a teacher, tutor, editor and freelance writer. He has taught English and writing at Horace Mann School, The Dwight School, DreamYard Preparatory School, Ramapo College of New Jersey and Virginia Commonwealth University. Currently, he teaches part-time at Prep for Prep, DreamYard and Story To College.
He received his BA in English from Princeton University and his MFA in Creative Writing from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Crum was born in Flint, Michigan. After spending his childhood in Birmingham, Alabama, he steadily made his way north: attending high school in DC, attending college in New Jersey and — after briefly reversing his northward journey to attend grad school in Virginia — settling in New York City.
By night, he writes poetry and fiction. By day, he has worked as a teacher, tutor, editor and freelance writer. He has taught English and writing at Horace Mann School, The Dwight School, DreamYard Preparatory School, Ramapo College of New Jersey and Virginia Commonwealth University. Currently, he teaches part-time at Prep for Prep, DreamYard and Story To College.
Education
VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY; Richmond, VA; MFA in Creative Writing; May 1996
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY; Princeton, NJ; BA in English; June 1993
92nd STREET Y – UNTERBERG POETRY CENTER; New York, NY
- Won the School of Graduate Studies’ Creative Writing Fellowship.
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY; Princeton, NJ; BA in English; June 1993
- Cum laude. Concentration in Creative Writing.
92nd STREET Y – UNTERBERG POETRY CENTER; New York, NY
- Took 6 advanced creative-writing workshops (4 poetry classes and 2 fiction classes) between 2001 and 2009. Studied with Cynthia Zarin, Charles Martin, Joan Silber, Rachel Wetzsteon and others.
Selected Honors & Awards
- Judge for 2006 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award (fiction category)
- Semifinalist, The Raymond Carver Short Story Award at the University of Washington, Carve Magazine (www.carvezine.com), 2001
- Semifinalist, James Fellowship for the Novel-in-Progress, the Heekin Group Foundation, 1998
- Creative Writing Fellowship, Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Graduate Studies, 1995
- Fiction Contest Winner, Virginia Commonwealth University’s English Department, 1995
- Black History in the Making, Virginia Commonwealth University & the Creative Writing Program, 1994–95
Selected Press Coverage
- poets.org (the Web site of The Academy of American Poets), press release for Cave Canem’s “Writing Across Cultures” reading, May 2010
- The Huffington Post, "Power in a Poem" by Abigail Pogrebin, Feb. 4, 2009
- furthermucker.com, “On Bronx Biannual” by Miles Marshall Lewis, 2008
- Bronx Biannual: The Official Blog of Bronx Biannual: The Literary Journal of Urbane Urban Literature + The Paris Misadventures of a Hiphop American in the 21st Century, “New Review (zooooo!)” by Dan Tres Omi, Feb. 21, 2007
- tayarijones.com/blog, “And The Winner Was...” by Tayari Jones, Nov. 4, 2006
- ink19.com; Sheila Scoville's review of Bronx Biannual, issue no 1; Oct. 2006
- akashicbooks.com; Press release for Bronx Biannual, issue no 1; 2006
- NPR affiliate WBEZ 91.5 FM, Chicago, Illinois. As part of WBEZ's Stories on Stage series, actor Ryan Priester did a dramatic reading of Crum's short story “My Heavenly Father” before a live audience. Dec. 27, 2003
- harlemlive.org, “A New Writer on the Scene” by Isabelle Pierre, Spring 2001
Complete Curriculum Vitae (Résumé)
| PDF of Dana Crum's curriculum vitae (résumé) |
