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Tananarive Due

タナナリーヴ・デュー

Tananarive Due

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1966-01-05 （Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.）
Nationality
American
Languages
English
Residence History
Tallahassee, Florida (birth) → Los Angeles, California, U.S. (residence)

Career

Occupations
Writer, Educator, Film historian
Active Years
1995-
Affiliations
Antioch University Los Angeles (affiliate faculty, MFA), Spelman College (endowed Cosby Chair in the Humanities), UCLA (developed and taught course "The Sunken Place: Racism, Survival and the Black Horror Aesthetic")

Education

Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University
Journalism
Degree: BS
Country: United States
Lived in the Communications Residential College
University of Leeds
English literature (emphasis on Nigerian literature)
Degree: MA
Country: United Kingdom

Awards

American Book Award
2002
Work: The Living Blood
Organization: Before Columbus Foundation
Result: Won
Bram Stoker Award
2023
Work: The Reformatory
Category: Best Novel
Organization: Horror Writers Association
Result: Won
Shirley Jackson Award
2023
Work: The Reformatory
Category: Novel
Organization: Shirley Jackson Awards
Result: Won
World Fantasy Award
2024
Work: The Reformatory
Category: Novel
Organization: World Fantasy Awards
Result: Won
Carl Brandon Award (Kindred Award)
2009
Work: Ghost Summer
Category: Kindred Award
Organization: Carl Brandon Society
Result: Won
British Fantasy Award
2016
Work: Ghost Summer: Stories
Category: Collection
Organization: British Fantasy Society
Result: Won
Ignyte Award
2020
Work: Black Horror Rising (essay)
Category: Creative Nonfiction
Organization: Ignyte Awards
Result: Won
Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Ray Bradbury Prize)
2024
Work: The Reformatory
Category: Ray Bradbury Prize
Organization: Los Angeles Times
Result: Won
Chautauqua Prize
2024
Work: The Reformatory
Organization: Chautauqua Institution
Result: Won

Awards & Nominations

World Fantasy Award 2 appearances
  1. Edition 49 (2023) Winner
    Work: Incident at Bear Creek Lodge

    A horror story collected in Other Terrors, recognized for its unsettling atmosphere in a confined setting.

    A short story whose tension grows inside an isolated space.

    short fictionhorrorhauntingclosed setting
  2. Edition 50 (2024) Winner
    Work: The Reformatory

    Set in 1950s Florida, the novel follows a boy sent to a reform school where ghosts, racism, and institutional violence converge.

    A haunted coming-of-age novel that confronts the violence of Jim Crow Florida.

    576 pages
    horrorhistorical fictionracismcoming of ageghosts

Works

Major Works

My Soul to Keep

1997 Supernatural fiction / Horror

A supernatural novel about immortality and its costs set within African American communities, exploring family, belonging, and identity.

ImmortalityFamilyIdentity

The Living Blood

2001 Horror / Supernatural

Sequel to My Soul to Keep, dealing with family, history, and the supernatural legacy that affects descendants.

Intergenerational impactHistorical legacySupernatural

The Good House

2003 Horror / Gothic

Set in a hometown where curses and past sins attached to a house and land resurface; a story where family history and the supernatural intersect.

Place and memoryFamily guiltCurse

The Reformatory

2023 Horror / Historical fiction

A novel inspired by real deaths at a Florida reform school, exploring past violence, justice, and the recovery of memory.

Institutional violenceMemory and truthJustice

Bibliography

  • The Between (1995)
  • The Black Rose (2000)
  • My Soul to Keep (1997)
  • The Living Blood (2001)
  • The Good House (2003)
  • Joplin's Ghost (2005)
  • Ghost Summer: Stories (2015)
  • The Reformatory (2023)
  • The Wishing Pool and Other Stories (2023)
  • Casanegra (with Blair Underwood and Steven Barnes, 2007)
  • In the Night of the Heat (with Blair Underwood and Steven Barnes)
  • My Soul to Take (2011)
  • The Keeper (graphic novel, 2022, with Steven Barnes)
  • Black Panther: Sins of the King (2024, contributor)
  • Freedom in the Family (with Patricia Stephens Due, 2003)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Gothic-tinged horrorLyrical prose with supernatural elementsBlending of historical and personal narratives
Recurring Motifs
Family and ancestral debtMemory of race and discriminationPast violence and justiceImmortality and supernatural cost

Legacy

Tananarive Due is a leading figure in Black horror scholarship and, as a writer and educator, integrates African American history and culture into horror and speculative fiction. Her work has won multiple major awards and her academic teaching (such as the UCLA course) has received recognition.

In Popular Culture

  • Influence on criticism and teaching of Black horror (e.g., UCLA course "The Sunken Place")
  • Featured in the documentary "Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror"

Trivia

  • Her first name was inspired by Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar (French form).
  • Her parents were civil rights activists; her mother is Patricia Stephens Due.
  • She developed and taught the UCLA course "The Sunken Place: Racism, Survival and the Black Horror Aesthetic."
  • Married to writer Steven Barnes and resides in the Los Angeles area.