For those of you who enjoyed talking with Writer-in-Residence (WIR) Dani McClain, reading her blog, or listening to her podcast, good news! She’s back for a second year. And for those of you who haven’t discovered her yet, you now have an extra year to experience her writing advice and insights through various online events.
“Due to COVID-19 limiting the type of programs we could do with Dani, as well as the importance of understanding journalism and nonfiction writing, the Library Foundation is pleased that we can present Dani for a second year as the Writer-in-Residence,” said Staci Dennison, the Thomas W. Jones Executive Director of The Library Foundation.
McClain returns for a second year as the Writer-in-Residence during 2021 and continues her work as the Library’s literary ambassador to the community. She continues to host the Library’s monthly Inside the Writer’s Head podcast, write blog posts, hold office hours, and lead writing workshops.
Among upcoming events, McClain will host a virtual introduction to reporting workshop in March. For a calendar of her upcoming events, go to cinlib.org/WIR2021. A reporter and author whose work has been featured in Time, Slate, and Ebony.com, McClain also is a contributing writer 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 is the sixth Cincinnati author to serve as the Library Foundation’s Writer-in-Residence. Past writers include Kathy Y. Wilson (2014), Jeffrey Hillard (2015-2016), Kurt Dinan (2017), Emma Carlson Berne (2018), and Jessica Strawser (2019). The goal of the Writer-in-Residence program is to foster engagement between the Library and the community’s writers and readers by providing instruction on the craft of writing, both online and in person. WIRs receive a $10,000 stipend thanks to the generous support of Naomi Tucker Gerwin and The Library Foundation.
About Dani McClain
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, which was shortlisted in 2020 for a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, 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.
WIR information is posted on CincinnatiLibrary.org/Writer-in-Residence/. Read McClain’s blog posts on CincinnatiLibrary.org/blogs/ and listen to Inside the Writer’s Head podcast on Spotify at cinlib.org/InsideWritersHead.
The Library Foundation of Cincinnati and Hamilton County is dedicated to ensuring a great Library system by raising, managing, and allocating funds to expand and enhance the collections, programs, and services of the Library. For more information and to donate, visit Foundation.CincinnatiLibrary.org.