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Danzy Senna

Professor of English
Danzy Senna
Pronouns She / Her / Hers Email senna@usc.edu Office THH 449E

Biography

Danzy Senna’s internationally bestselling first novel, Caucasia made her one of today’s most timely and respected literary voices, consistently challenging our culture’s defined states of race, class, and gender norms. Caucasia won the Stephen Crane Award for Best New Fiction and the American Library Association’s Alex Award, and has been translated into over a dozen languages. A recipient of a Whiting Writers Award, Senna is also the author of the novel, Symptomatic, the memoir, Where Did You Sleep Last Night?, the story collection You Are Free, and the novel, New People, named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review, Time Magazine, NPR Vogue and The Root. Her most recent novel, Colored Television, was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2024 as well as a top ten book of the year by The Washington Post, Time, NPR, The Los Angeles Times, the New York Post and Electric Literature. Colored Television was a finalist for the 2025 PEN/Faulkner Award and winner of the 2025 Anisfeld-Wolf Book Award for Fiction. 

Education

  • M.F.A. Creative Writing – Fiction, UC Irvine, 6/1996
  • B.A. American Studies, Stanford University, 6/1992

  • Novels

    • Senna, D. (2024). Colored Television. New York, NY. Riverhead Books.
    • Senna, D. (2017). New People. New York, NY. Riverhead Books.
    • Senna, D. (2004). Symptomatic. New York, NY. Riverhead Books.
    • Senna, D. (1998). Caucasia. New York, NY. Riverhead Books.

    Other

    • Senna, D. (2011). You Are Free: Stories. Riverhead Books.
    • Senna, D. (2006). Where Did You Sleep Last Night? A Personal History. Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

  • Administrative Appointments

    • Dean’s Leadership Fellow for the Humanities, 08/16/2022 – 08/15/2023

    Committees

    • Chair, Undergraduate Studies Committee, English Department, 2022-2023
    • Member, Society of Fellows Committee, Department English, 2022-2023
    • Member, Executive Committee, English Department, 2022-2023
    • Member, Chief Diversity Officer Search Committee, 2022-2023
    • Member, Media Working Group, 2021-2022

    Other Service to the University

    • Search Committee, Chief Diversity Officer, Office of the Dean, 2022-2023
    • Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Advisory Council, 2022-2023
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