Damon Young
BornPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
OccupationWriter, editor
LanguageEnglish
EducationCanisius College
GenreNon-fiction
Literary movementBlack
Years active2008–present
Notable worksWhat Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker
Children2

Damon Young (born December 30, 1978)[1][2] is an American writer and editor. He is the co-founder of the website Very Smart Brothas. Young released his first book, What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker, in 2019 with HarperCollins.[3]

Early life and education

Young was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Vivienne and Wilbur Young.[4] He spent most of his adolescence in East Liberty. As a teenager, Young lived in Penn Hills where he became a basketball player for Penn Hills High School.[5] He earned a basketball scholarship at Canisius College, graduating with a degree in English in 2002.[6]

Career

Young co-founded a website called Very Smart Brothas (VSB) in 2008 with D. Marcellus Wright, who uses the pen name Panama Jackson.[1] The website featured essays on pop culture, politics, and absurdist humor written for an African-American audience. Gizmodo Media Group acquired VSB in 2016. It is now a vertical on the website The Root.[7]

He is also a columnist for GQ, and a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times.[7][8] Young became a weekly contributing columnist for The Washington Post in January, 2022.[9]

Young signed a two-book publishing deal with HarperCollins' Ecco imprint in November 2016.[1] His first book, What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays, was released in March 2019.[10] Consisting of a collection of personal essays primarily about race, gender, class, and Black identity,[11] the book received positive critical attention. Publishers Weekly wrote in a review: "Young's charm and wit make these essays a pleasure to read; his candid approach makes them memorable."[12] Karamagi Rujumba wrote for the Post-Gazette: " 'What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker' is in equal parts a deeply introspective account of a life and an astute critique of the contours along which black people survive the limitations of historic and systemic racism."[11] Michael Kleber-Diggs wrote for the Star Tribune: "Readers who know Young's work from the blog he co-founded, Very Smart Brothas, will recognize his voice, his fondness for lists, his precise, comprehensive and spectacular references to pop culture, his wit, and his keen mind."[13] The book won the 2020 Thurber Prize for American Humor.[14]

Ebony named him to its Power 100 2017 list under the Luminaries category.[15]

Personal life

Young is married and has a young daughter and son. He resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[3][16]

Works

  • Your Degrees Won’t Keep You Warm At Night Lexington, KY: Very Smart Brothas Media, 2011. ISBN 9781453708767, OCLC 702658318
  • What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker New York, NY: Ecco, 2019. ISBN 9780062684301, OCLC 1090242570

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ramanathan, Lavanya (November 21, 2016). "Very Smart Brothas is the blackest thing that ever happened to the Internet. Period". Washington Post. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  2. ↑ "White people often don't see Damon Young. That's about to change".
  3. 1 2 Simon, Scott (March 23, 2019). "'What Doesn't Kill You' Navigates The Challenges Of Existing While Black". NPR.org. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  4. ↑ Cunningham, Lisa (February 27, 2019). "Damon Young's What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker". Pittsburgh City Paper. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  5. ↑ Byko, Laura (April 29, 2015). "Blogger left basketball behind to chronicle black experience in Pittsburgh". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  6. ↑ "Canisius College Welcomes Damon Young Back to Campus". Canisius College. March 21, 2019. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  7. 1 2 Weidenhof, Alex (July 8, 2017). "Gizmodo Media Group acquires Very Smart Brothas blog". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  8. ↑ Young, Damon (April 9, 2021). "Opinion | Racism Makes Me Question Everything. I Got the Vaccine Anyway". The New York Times.
  9. ↑ WashPostPR (January 24, 2022). "Damon Young joins The Washington Post Magazine as a contributing columnist". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.
  10. ↑ León, Concepción de (March 25, 2019). "Damon Young on the 'Absurdity' of Being Black". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  11. 1 2 Rujumba, Karamagi (March 22, 2019). "Damon Young finds hilarity and profundity in vulnerability". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  12. ↑ "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays". Publishers Weekly. January 17, 2019. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  13. ↑ Kleber-Diggs, Michael. "Review: 'What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker,' by Damon Young". Star Tribune. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  14. ↑ Thurber Prize for American HumorThurber House Archived November 16, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ Ebony.com. "EBONY Power 100 2017 Honoree - Damon Young". EBONY Power 100 2017. Archived from the original on March 25, 2019. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  16. ↑ King, Jamilah (March–April 2019). "White people often don't see Damon Young. That's about to change". Mother Jones. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
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