Dana Johnson

Beyond the Beach: Searching for Community in SoCal Neighborhoods, Saturday, May 4th, 5:00 – 6:00pm, Mountain View Mausoleum

Dana Johnson is the author of the short story collections In the Not Quite Dark and Break Any Woman Down, and the novel Elsewhere, California. Born and raised in and around Los Angeles, she is a professor of English at the University of Southern California. Johnson’s work has appeared publications such as Ploughshares, Zyzzyva, The Paris Review, Callaloo, and The Iowa Review, and anthologies such as On Girlhood: 15 Stories from the Well-Read Black Girl Library, Watchlist: 32 Stories by Persons of Interest, Shaking the Tree: A Collection of New Fiction and Memoir by Black Women, and California Uncovered: Stories for the 21st Century. Recent work includes Trailblazer: Delilah Beasley’s California, a fictional account of the life of historian and newspaper columnist Delilah Beasley. Collaborations include WE, with Los Angeles artist Susan Silton, whose etchings accompany Dana’s short story, “We See It Differently, You and I”, and UC Irvine’s dance theater production of The Story of Biddy Mason, produced by Annie Loui, artistic director of Counter-Balance Theater.