A reporter and author whose work has been featured in Time, Slate and Ebony.com will serve as the Library Foundation’s Writer-in-Residence for 2020. Dani McClain is a freelance reporter for The Nation magazine and a fellow at the Type Media Center in New York. Her work centers on reproductive health, race and activism.
McClain has been tapped to serve during 2020 as the Library’s literary ambassador to the community, and receives a $10,000 stipend thanks to the generous support of Naomi Tucker Gerwin and the Library Foundation. She’ll also host a monthly podcast, write blog posts, hold office hours and lead writing workshops.
McClain grew up in Camp Dennison and, after graduating from Indian Hill High School, attended Columbia University for both her undergraduate and graduate work, earning a Master of Science from its prestigious School of Journalism. She has received numerous awards, including the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, and awards from the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association. She is the author of We Live for the We: The Political Power of Black Motherhood and contributed chapters to Killing Trayvons: An Anthology of American Violence and Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements. She lives in Northside.