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Tananarive Due

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Tananarive Due
Due at the 2023 National Book Festival
Born
Tananarive Priscilla Due

(1966-01-05) January 5, 1966 (age 60)
Tallahassee, Florida, United States
EducationMedill School of Journalism (BS)
University of Leeds (MA)
Occupations
  • Writer
  • educator
SpouseSteven Barnes
Writing career
Notable workThe Reformatory (2023)
Notable awardsAmerican Book Award (2002)
Bram Stoker Award (2023)
Shirley Jackson Award (2023)
Los Angeles Times Book Prize (2023)
Movement
Afro-Surrealism[1]
Websitetananarivedue.com

Tananarive Priscilla Due (/təˈnænəriːv ˈdjuː/ tə-NAN-ə-reev DEW) (born January 5, 1966) is an American author and educator. She is also known as a film historian with expertise in Black horror. Due teaches a course at UCLA called "The Sunken Place: Racism, Survival and the Black Horror Aesthetic", which focuses on the Jordan Peele film Get Out.[2]

Early life and education

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Due was born in Tallahassee, Florida, the oldest of three daughters of civil rights activist Patricia Stephens Due and civil rights lawyer John D. Due Jr.[3] Her mother named her after the French name for Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar.[4]

Due earned a B.S. in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and an M.A. in English literature, with a focus on Nigerian literature, from the University of Leeds.[5] At Northwestern, she lived in the Communications Residential College.[6]

Career

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Due was working as a journalist and columnist for the Miami Herald when she wrote her first novel, The Between, in 1995.[6] This, like many of her subsequent books, was part of the supernatural genre.[7] Due won the American Book Award for her novel The Living Blood (2001).[8]

Due also wrote The Black Rose, a historical novel about Madam C. J. Walker (based in part on research conducted by Alex Haley before his death),[9] and Freedom in the Family, a nonfiction work co-authored with Patricia Stephens Due about the civil rights movement.[10] She contributed to the humor novel Naked Came the Manatee, a mystery thriller parody to which various Miami-area authors contributed chapters.[11] Due also authored the African Immortals novel series[12] and co-authored the Tennyson Hardwick novels with Blair Underwood and Steven Barnes.[13]

Due was a member of the affiliate faculty in the creative writing MFA program at Antioch University Los Angeles[14] and an endowed Cosby chair in the humanities at Spelman College in Atlanta.[15]

She developed a course at UCLA called "The Sunken Place: Racism, Survival and the Black Horror Aesthetic" after the release of the 2017 film Get Out. The first course went viral and included a visit from Jordan Peele.[2]

Due was featured in the 2019 documentary film Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror, produced by Shudder.[2]

Her novel, The Reformatory, was published by Saga Press in 2023.[16][17][18] It was nominated for numerous awards. It won the 2023 Bram Stoker Award, 2023 Shirley Jackson Award, 2023 Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and 2024 World Fantasy Award.[19][20]

Personal life

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Due is the daughter of civil rights activists Patricia Stephens Due and civil rights attorney John D. Due Jr. She has two sisters, Johnita and Lydia.[21]

Due is married to author Steven Barnes,[22] whom she met in 1997 at a Clark Atlanta University panel on "The African-American Fantastic Imagination".[23] The couple lives in Los Angeles with their son, Jason.[24][25][26]

Bibliography

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Novels

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African Immortals series

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The Tennyson Hardwick novels

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  • Casanegra (with Blair Underwood and Steven Barnes, 2007)
  • In the Night of the Heat (with Blair Underwood and Steven Barnes, 2008)
  • From Cape Town with Love (with Blair Underwood and Steven Barnes, 2010)
  • South by Southeast (with Blair Underwood and Steven Barnes, 2012)

Short story collections

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  • Ghost Summer: Stories (2015)
  • The Wishing Pool and Other Stories (2023)

Graphic novels

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  • The Keeper (with Steven Barnes, illustrated by Marco Finnegan, 2022)

Other books

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Short stories

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Awards and recognition

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YearWorkAwardCategoryResultRef.
1995 The Between Bram Stoker Award First Novel Nominated [28]
1997 My Soul to Keep Bram Stoker Award Novel Nominated [29]
2001 The Living Blood International Horror Guild Award Novel Nominated [30]
2002 American Book Award — Won [8]
2003 The Good House International Horror Guild Award Novel Nominated [30]
2009 "Ghost Summer" Carl Brandon Award Kindred Award Won [31]
In the Night of the Heat NAACP Image Award Fiction Won[a] [32]
2015 "Herd Immunity" Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award — Finalist [33]
2016 Ghost Summer: Stories British Fantasy Award Collection Won [34]
NAACP Image Award Fiction Nominated [35]
2020 N/a Ignyte Award Ember Award Finalist [36]
"Black Horror Rising" Ignyte Award Creative Nonfiction Won [36]
2021 N/a Ignyte Award Ember Award Finalist [37]
2022 N/a Ignyte Award Ember Award Won [38]
2023 Africa Risen Locus Award Anthology Won[b] [39]
"Incident at Bear Creek Lodge" Locus Award Novelette Finalist [39]
World Fantasy Award Short Fiction Won [40]
The Keeper[c] Locus Award Illustrated and Art Book Finalist [39]
NAACP Image Award Fiction Nominated [41]
"Rumpus Room" Bram Stoker Award Long Fiction Nominated [42]
The Reformatory Booklist Editors' Choice Genre Fiction Selected [43]
Bram Stoker Award Novel Won [42]
Goodreads Choice Awards Horror Nominated [44]
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Ray Bradbury Prize Won [26]
Shirley Jackson Award Novel Won [45]
2024 BCALA Literary Awards Fiction Honor [46]
Chautauqua Prize — Won [47]
Dragon Awards Horror Novel Nominated [48]
Locus Award Horror Novel Finalist [49]
Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award — Longlisted [50]
RUSA CODES Reading List Horror Shortlisted [51]
World Fantasy Award Novel Won [52]
"Suppertime" Locus Award Short Story Finalist [49]
The Wishing Pool and Other Stories Locus Award Collection Finalist [49]
2025 "A Stranger Knocks" Ignyte Award Novelette Finalist [53]
Locus Award Novelette Finalist [54]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ↑ With Steven Barnes and Blair Underwood
  2. ↑ The award was jointly awarded to all authors included in the anthology.
  3. ↑ Co-authored with Steven Barnes; illustrated by Marco Finnegan

References

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  1. ↑ Spenser, Rochelle (2021). AfroSurrealism: The African Diaspora's Surrealist Fiction. The Cultural Politics of Media and Popular Culture. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-103-208-237-0.
  2. 1 2 3 Obie, Brooke (March 8, 2019). "What Is Black Horror? 'The Sunken Place' Professor Tananarive Due Explains". Blavity. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
  3. ↑ "Patricia Stevens Due and Tananarive Due". NPR. January 16, 2003. Retrieved June 6, 2026.
  4. ↑ Due, Tananarive; Due, Patricia Stephens (2009). Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights. Random House. ISBN 978-0-307-52534-5.
  5. ↑ "Tananarive Due". African American Literature Book Club. Retrieved June 6, 2026.
  6. 1 2 Su, Jennifer (Fall 2001). "Getting Her Due". Northwestern Alumni News. Retrieved June 6, 2026.
  7. ↑ Mohanraj, Mary A. (2003). "Tananarive Due". In Bleiler, Richard (ed.). Supernatural fiction writers: contemporary fantasy and horror (2nd ed.). New York: Scribner. pp. 309–314. ISBN 978-0-684-31250-7.
  8. 1 2 "Before Columbus Foundation Presents the winners of the American Book Awards 2002". American Book Awards. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  9. ↑ Callison, Tracey A. (November 2000). "The Black Rose". Historical Novel Society. Retrieved June 6, 2026.
  10. ↑ "Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights". Zinn Education Project. Retrieved June 6, 2026.
  11. ↑ "NAKED CAME THE MANATEE". Kirkus Reviews. December 15, 1996.
  12. ↑ "Blood Colony by Tananarive Due". Publishers Weekly. April 28, 2008. Retrieved June 6, 2026.
  13. ↑ "Tennyson Hardwick Series". Simon & Schuster. Retrieved June 6, 2026.
  14. ↑ "Tananarive Due". Antioch University Los Angeles. Archived from the original on September 14, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Past - Present Chairs". Spelman College. Archived from the original on September 6, 2013.
  16. ↑ Hand, Elizabeth (October 30, 2023). "Deaths at a Florida 'reform' school inspire a masterful horror novel". Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  17. ↑ Iglesias, Gabino (November 2, 2023). "'The Reformatory' tells a story of ghosts, abuse, racism — and sibling love". NPR. Retrieved June 6, 2026.
  18. ↑ Woods, Paula L. (October 26, 2023). "Black horror is having a big moment. So is its pioneer, Tananarive Due". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
  19. ↑ "The 2023 Bram Stoker Awards Winners". The Bram Stoker Awards. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  20. ↑ "2023 Shirley Jackson Awards Winners". The Shirley Jackson Awards. July 13, 2024. Retrieved June 6, 2026.
  21. ↑ Jenkins Field, Dorothy (June 18, 2020). "Let us remember those fathers who led civil-rights struggles in Florida". Miami Herald.
  22. ↑ Dozois, Gardner, ed. (2001). The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eighteenth Annual Collection. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 594. ISBN 978-0-312-27465-8.
  23. ↑ Barnes, Steven (2013). "On Tananarive Due". SFbios.com. Retrieved June 6, 2026.
  24. ↑ "Tananarive Due | Contributors". ABRAMS. Retrieved June 6, 2026.
  25. ↑ "Steven Barnes". Chicon 8. Retrieved June 6, 2026.
  26. 1 2 "Los Angeles Times Announces Winners of 44th Annual Book Prizes". Los Angeles Times. April 20, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2025.
  27. ↑ Foster, Eugie (July 28, 2006). "Fantasy & Science Fiction, Sept. 2006". Tangent.
  28. ↑ "1995 Bram Stoker Award Winners & Nominees". Bram Stoker Awards. Retrieved August 22, 2025.
  29. ↑ "1997 Bram Stoker Award Winners & Nominees". Bram Stoker Awards. Retrieved August 22, 2025.
  30. 1 2 "IHG Award Recipients". International Horror Guild. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  31. ↑ "Carl Brandon Society Awards". Carl Brandon Society. Archived from the original on May 1, 2013.
  32. ↑ N'neka Hite (February 12, 2009). "'Bees' big at NAACP Image Awards". Variety. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  33. ↑ "2015 Campbell and Sturgeon Awards Winners". Locus. June 15, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2025.
  34. ↑ "2016 British Fantasy Awards Winners". Locus. September 25, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2025.
  35. ↑ "2016 Image Winners". Variety. February 6, 2016. Archived from the original on February 27, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  36. 1 2 "2020 Ignyte Awards Winners". Locus. October 18, 2020. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  37. ↑ "2021 Ignyte Awards Winners". Locus. September 18, 2021. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  38. ↑ Emmet Asher-Perrin (September 17, 2022). "Announcing the Winners of the 2022 Ignyte Awards!". Tor.com. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  39. 1 2 3 "2023 Locus Awards Winners". Locus. June 25, 2023. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
  40. ↑ Molly Templeton (October 30, 2023). "Announcing the 2023 World Fantasy Awards Winners". Reactor. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
  41. ↑ Mekishana Pierre (February 25, 2023). "2023 NAACP Image Awards: Complete Winners List". Entertainment Tonight. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  42. 1 2 "2023 Stoker Awards Winners". Locus. June 3, 2024. Retrieved August 3, 2025.
  43. ↑ "Booklist Editors' Choice: Adult Books, 2023". Booklist. December 1, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
  44. ↑ "Announcing the Goodreads Choice Winner in Best Horror!". Goodreads. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
  45. ↑ "2023 Shirley Jackson Awards Winners". Locus. July 13, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2025.
  46. ↑ "Adult". Black Caucus American Library Association. October 14, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
  47. ↑ "Due Wins Chautauqua Prize". Locus. June 7, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2025.
  48. ↑ "sfadb: Dragon Awards 2024". SFADB. Retrieved August 22, 2025.
  49. 1 2 3 "2024 Locus Awards Winners". Locus. June 22, 2024. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
  50. ↑ "Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award Longlist". Library Thing. Retrieved August 22, 2025.
  51. ↑ "The Reading List". RUSA Update. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
  52. ↑ Armstrong, Vanessa (October 24, 2024). "Here Are the 2024 World Fantasy Award Winners". Reactor. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
  53. ↑ Molly Templeton (June 9, 2025). "Here Are the Finalists for the 2025 Ignyte Awards". Reactor. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  54. ↑ "2025 Locus Awards Winners". Locus. June 21, 2025. Retrieved July 13, 2025.
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