Danzy Senna

Author profile

born

January 01, 1970 in Boston, Massachusetts, The United States

gender

female

genre

Literature & Fiction

About this author

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Danzy Senna is an American novelist, born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970. Her parents, Carl Senna, an Afro-Mexican poet and author, and Fanny Howe, who is Irish-American writer, were also civil rights activists.

She attended Stanford University and received an MFA from the University of California at Irvine. There, she received several creative writing awards.

Her debut novel, Caucasia (later republished as From Caucasia With Love), was well received and won several awards including the Book-Of-The-Month Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction, and the Alex Award from the American Library Association.

Her second novel, Symptomatic, was also well received. Both books feature a biracial protagonist and offer a unique view on life from...more

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Books by Danzy Senna

Average rating: 3.83 · 3,389 ratings · 462 reviews · 9 distinct works

	Caucasia 3.94 avg rating — 2,649 ratings — published 1998 — 11 editions	My rating:
	Symptomatic 3.13 avg rating — 289 ratings — published 2004 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Where Did You Sleep Last Night?: A Personal History 3.65 avg rating — 202 ratings — published 2009 — 7 editions	My rating:
	You Are Free: Stories 3.44 avg rating — 200 ratings — published 2011	My rating:
	Where Did You Sleep Last Night?: A Personal History 4.00 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2010	My rating:
	You Are Free: Stories 2.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2011	My rating:
	Where Did You Sleep Last Night: A Personal History [With Earbuds] by Danzy Senna, Carrington MacDuffie (Narrator) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	My rating:
	Zwart zijn voor beginners by Danzy Senna, Tineke Funhoff (Translator) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1999	My rating:
	Gumbo A Celebration of African American Writers by Edwidge Danticat, Eric Jerome Dickey, Danzy Senna 4.25 avg rating — 48 ratings — published 2002	My rating:

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Quotes by Danzy Senna

“It’s funny. When you leave your home and wander really far, you always think, ‘I want to go home.’ But then you come home, and of course it’s not the same. You can’t live with it, you can’t live away from it. And it seems like from then on there’s always this yearning for some place that doesn’t exist. I felt that. Still do. I’m never completely at home anywhere.”
― Danzy Senna

tags: home , travel

26 people liked it

“We were lying on our backs in the foothills, watching the sky and making a list called "Never." All the things we would never do. Let's never get married. Let's never get fat. Let's never sleep with a married man. Let's never stop being students, even after we graduate. Let's never get dull-eyed and ironic. Let's never get stuck in a rut-- or trapped in a life we didn't choose. Let's never grow bitter.”
― Danzy Senna, Symptomatic

tags: inspirational

13 people liked it

“He began to talk about the fact that race was not only a construct but a scientific error along the magnitude of the error that the world was flat. . . 'And when they discover their mistake, I mean, truly discover it, it'll be as big as when they learned the world was, in fact, round. It'll open up a whole new world. And nothing will ever be the same.”
― Danzy Senna, Caucasia

tags: racism

2 people liked it

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
75 Books: Bookreadera's 75 in 2009	32	162	Oct 11, 2009 01:20pm
Literary Fiction ...: Heidi Durrow, Mat Johnson, Danzy Senna in NYT Article On Mixed-Race Authors & Artists	3	22	Jul 15, 2011 07:40am
Literary Fiction ...: Coming Attractions - 2011	55	105	Dec 27, 2011 10:34pm
The Next Best Boo...: Last Letter Game (Writers/Authors)	1055	846	2 hours, 38 min ago

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