{"id":23005,"date":"2025-01-31T17:33:13","date_gmt":"2025-02-01T01:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/?p=23005"},"modified":"2025-08-15T09:42:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T16:42:04","slug":"danzy-senna-colored-television-dornsife-dialogues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/danzy-senna-colored-television-dornsife-dialogues\/","title":{"rendered":"Danzy Senna\u2019s philosophy of writerly freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/53_DanzySenna_Top-768x432.png\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/53_DanzySenna_Top-1920x1080.png 1920w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/53_DanzySenna_Top-1280x720.png 1280w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/53_DanzySenna_Top-768x432.png 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"Danzy Senna\u2019s philosophy of writerly freedom\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Danzy Senna spoke with fellow novelist Jeffrey Escoffery at a recent Dornsife Dialogues event. (Composite: Letty Avila. Photo: Courtesy of Danzy Senna.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=arts-and-culture\">Arts and Culture<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>Danzy Senna\u2019s philosophy of writerly freedom<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  The professor of English and author of the acclaimed novel <em>Colored Television<\/em> discusses writing in the shadow of \u201cBig Television,\u201d overcoming bad reviews, and her \u201cdescriptive, not prescriptive\u201d approach.\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:mcrable@usc.edu\">Margaret Crable<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">January 31, 2025<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m7.43475275 9.52380952-2.17490843 2.26076008c-1.08745421 1.058837-1.68841575 2.518315-1.68841575 4.0350275 0 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xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m8.14285714 9.42857143c-.17142857 0-.34285714 0-.51428571.08571428l7.28571427 6.34285719c.3428572.2571428.6857143.2571428.9428572 0l7.2857142-6.34285719c-.0857142-.08571428-.2571428-.08571428-.4285714-.08571428zm-1.28571428 1.11428567v.1714286 8.5714286c0 .6857143.6 1.2857143 1.28571428 1.2857143h14.57142856c.6857143 0 1.2857143-.6 1.2857143-1.2857143v-8.5714286c0-.0857143 0-.0857143 0-.1714286l-7.2 6.3428572c-.7714286.6857143-1.8857143.6857143-2.6571429 0z\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" transform=\"translate(-6 -9)\"\/><\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Email<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                  <\/span>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n \n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/721501\/colored-television-a-gma-book-club-pick-by-danzy-senna\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Colored Television<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/profile\/danzy-senna\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Danzy Senna<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, professor of<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/engl\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">English<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, has garnered wide acclaim. It was included in both <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The New York Times<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019 and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Time<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> magazine\u2019s lists of notable books of the year, and was a <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Good Morning America<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> book club read.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not all of her novels have been so well-received. \u201cMy second book,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/291538\/symptomatic-by-danzy-senna\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Symptomatic<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was mostly ignored, but when it wasn\u2019t ignored, it was hated,\u201d says Senna. She\u2019d chosen to write a horror thriller about race in a moment when few were mixing the subjects and genres.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet, reading the bad reviews provided her with a unique boost of confidence. \u201cMy first novel\u2019s excessive praise had made me think that praise was why I was writing. When people hated <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Symptomatic<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, I thought, \u2018I&#8217;m really a writer, because I just keep wanting to write. I am not made by the praise of the world. I&#8217;m writing because it&#8217;s a compulsion,\u2019\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Senna recently sat down for a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/dornsife-alumni\/dornsife-dialogues\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dornsife Dialogue<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with Jonathan Escoffer<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">y, author of<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/us.macmillan.com\/books\/9780374605988\/ifisurviveyou\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If I Survive You<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/cwphd\/students\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a PhD student<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/cwphd\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Creative Writing and Literature<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at USC Dornsife, in which the two discussed the inspiration for her novel, bucking expectations, Los Angeles\u2019 unique relationship to apocalypse and much more.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"video-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pdfFa24Hsqo?si=xkr5-5fTY2PcoxaR\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h2>Star power<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Los Angeles served as a central inspiration for Senna, who was particularly intrigued by the strange way Hollywood eclipsed book-writing in the city. \u201cI would go to parties and feel my irrelevance when I would say I was a novelist and people would ask, \u2018Has any of your work been made into anything?\u2019\u201d says Senna.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She\u2019d tried her hand at writing for TV, and found it \u201csparkly,\u201d filled with a tantalizing hope that one might have your art experienced on such a large scale \u2014 and also make it rich. \u201cIt was at the height of prestige television and there was a feeling that books were fading into history and that television was taking over.\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She tapped into this feeling, centering her book on the character of Jane, who turns away from a struggling second book project (the \u201cmulatto War and Peace,\u201d as Jane\u2019s husband describes it) to a potentially far more profitable television script.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>What\u2019s in a name?<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The word \u201cmulatto\u201d (a term used frequently in the book) has a habit of pricking up ears, but Senna doesn\u2019t entirely understand the fuss. \u201cMy inside world is so heavily populated by \u201cmulattos\u201d, and we use the word constantly, that I forgot that other people weren&#8217;t allowed to say it,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For her, mulatto is just the best description of her personal experience. Senna\u2019s father, Carl Senna, identifies as Black and is a descendant of slaves. Her mother, the poet and novelist Fanny Howe, is white and a descendant of slave owners. Mulatto is the term that accurately reflects this specific history, says Senna, unlike \u201cbiracial,\u201d which could mean a combination of any two races.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet, she\u2019s not necessarily making the case for larger adoption of the designation. Senna resists the expectation that, as a mixed-race writer, she should be looked to for specific instructions around identity and language.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI think sometimes as writers of color, especially Black writers, we get asked to be like [former President Barack] Obama, to wear these other hats. I want to live in a much freer space, and maybe it&#8217;s an irresponsible space, but I want to claim the fiction writer\/artist loophole. Nothing I&#8217;m writing should be seen as prescriptive. It&#8217;s descriptive, not prescriptive,\u201d she explains.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"buzzsprout-player-16529836\"><\/div>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/2126441\/episodes\/16529836-in-conversation-with-danzy-senna.js?container_id=buzzsprout-player-16529836&#038;player=small\" type=\"text\/javascript\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h5>Find a transcript of this audio\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/2126441\/episodes\/16529836-in-conversation-with-danzy-senna\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>\u00a0under the transcript tab.<\/h5>\n<h2>Writerly recommendations<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before Senna was a novelist and professor, she worked as a journalist. Transitioning to fiction writing was intimidating, she says when asked for tips on how someone could get more serious about novel-writing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She says she started with workshops, taking night classes at the New School in New York City, where she learned to put her work in front of other people, take criticism, and also to realize that first drafts are always flawed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She also suggested that would-be novelists begin to read like writers. \u201cWhen you&#8217;re reading, start to think about where you were pulled into the story, where you were pushed out. Start to look under the hood and to understand the craft,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n  \n        \n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-related-stories \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-related-stories\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n    \n                  <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/advocate-for-foster-children\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Drawing from her own experience, she advocates for foster care children through her writing and more<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/why-a-liberal-arts-degree-is-often-a-ticket-to-career-success\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Why a liberal arts degree is often a ticket to career success<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/6-reasons-shakespeare-remains-an-icon-400-years-after-his-death\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >6 reasons Shakespeare remains an icon 400 years after his death<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n            <\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The professor of English and author of the acclaimed novel <em>Colored Television<\/em> discusses writing in the shadow of \u201cBig Television,\u201d overcoming bad reviews, and her \u201cdescriptive, not prescriptive\u201d approach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":23006,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[74,54,1954,141],"class_list":["post-23005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","tag-english","tag-events","tag-expert-opinion","tag-literature"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Danzy Senna\u2019s philosophy of writerly freedom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The author of \u201cColored Television\u201d discusses writing in the shadow of &quot;Big Television,&quot; overcoming bad reviews, and Los Angeles as muse.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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