Today we’d like to introduce you to Dana De Greff.
Dana, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My first memories are not where I was born, here in Miami, but in Lagos, Nigeria, where I moved with my family when I was four years old. After two years there, we went on to Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire for three years, and then Doula, Cameroon for one. When I was ten, we returned to Miami, and I remember that move being more of a culture shock than going to West Africa. Those years, I’m sure, influenced my love of travel, learning about different cultures, languages, and food. As an undergrad at FSU, I studied English and minored in film studies and Spanish literature; for a time, I thought I wanted to be a screenwriter (and I still want to write a screenplay… one day!), but before I could get any work in those areas, I moved to Spain to teach English. I did not write a lot while I was there, but I definitely had many adventures, including walking for almost two weeks on the Camino de Santiago.
I returned to the US to get my MA in English from UT Austin, with the idea of staying on to get a Ph.D. and teach English literature. That didn’t happen (mostly because I was sick of school and intimidated by the amount of work my friends in the Ph.D. program were doing) but I did get my MA and attempted to write my first novel… which I abandoned about 100 pages in. From 2012-2013, I lived and taught English in the Future Patagonia Park in Patagonia, Chile. Again, not much creative writing was done there, but a lot of living and learning. When I returned to the US at the end of 2013, this time it was home to Miami. For the next two years, I worked as a freelance journalist, copywriter, and editor. I grew as a writer but felt my dream of writing books slipping away, so I applied for an MFA in creative writing at the University of Miami and got in. I graduated in 2018 with a full novel draft and a determination to never stray from the writer’s path again. While at UM, I also received a 2016 Knight Arts Challenge Grant for PageSlayers, which provides free creative writing camps for kids based in in Opa-Locka and in partnership with the OLCDC.
Moving forward, I am now focusing on smaller-scale projects with PageSlayers, the most recent of which is SIDE x SIDE, a mail art project in collaboration with artist Elia Khalaf, EXILE Books, and the Little Haiti Cultural Center and which will take place summer 2021 and was funded by Oolite Arts through an Ellies Creator Award in 2019. SIDE x SIDE will showcase the connections between Opa-Locka and Little Haiti through mail art, where participants create works for their pen pals in other cities, then meet in person to create a zine together. (Learn more here: https://oolitearts.org/grant/dana-de-greff/)
Currently, I am a Visiting Professor of English at St. Thomas University and have taught creative writing classes with Books & Books in Miami, as well as online through the Loft Literary Center, and now on my own through zoom. I am working on getting my first novel, The Odyssey Hotel, published, and am also at work on my second novel, Everyday Mysticism. I have also published a chapbook of poems, Alterations, which was selected by Dan Vera and Ron Mohring as Number Eight in the Rane Arroyo Chapbook Series. I’m the recipient of the 2018 Lillian E. Smith Writer-in-Service Award, and the 2017-2018 Literary Artist-in-Residence at the Deering Estate and I’ve been accepted or awarded scholarships from Tent: Creative Writing, the Tin House Summer Writers’ Workshop, The Key West Literary Seminar, the Lemon Tree House Residency in Tuscany, and Hedgebrook. My work appears in or is forthcoming from The Citron Review, Cosmonauts Avenue, PANK, Origins Journal, Philadelphia Stories, Hawai’i Pacific Review, and Gulf Stream Magazine and I am represented by Writers House.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Absolutely not. I spent a long time as a (much) younger person trying to ‘find myself,’ which really was more about finding ways to accept and love myself. I also spent too much time mired in self-doubt and imposter syndrome, which is normal for any artist, I think, but I let fear get in the way of my abilities. Now, I try to keep things simple and practice self-compassion every day.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
On top of the aforementioned list and my teaching at STU, I lead virtual creative writing courses and workshops and offer one-on-one services and mentorship via calls/zoom/email at the moment. I’m known for my patience, kindness, and ability to help students realize their book projects. There are a lot of people out there who say they are “experts” on writing, but I don’t buy it (especially when you realize many people who teach writing don’t have anything published themselves). There is always more to learn, and I get as much out of my students as they do from me. That’s partly why I do what I do.
Where do you see your industry going over the next 5-10 years? Any big shifts, changes, trends, etc?
Well, on a large scale, I’ve known, along with many other writers who are minorities, that publishing is way, way, way too white and way too male. We need more editors of color, more publishers of color, more bookstore owners of color, etc. Everything needs to change, and even more so now during this pivotal time in which people (especially those who are not Black) are paying more attention to the Black Lives Matter movement and listening to and engaging with the demands for racial equality and justice that are long overdue in this country. Some people read what they read without even thinking about it, but as a teacher and someone who creates her own syllabi, I think about it all the time–what am I making my students read and why? Who is part of the literary canon and why? Who is on the bestseller list and why? Why does one person get $15 k for a book deal, and another 100k?
I don’t want to be part of the problem. I want to be part of the solution. I want to have students reading widely–across genres, across race, across ethnicity, across gender… And on a more micro scale, I see myself getting better at reading and teaching more LGBTQIA+ literature and further committing myself to writing books, stories, and essays that speak from a place of truth and power rather than fear (for example, I recently published a micro nonfiction essay entitled “This is How You Say Conflict” in The Citron Review that is based on my experience with sexual assault. That was scary. But I did it because it matters. Those stories matter.).
When I lead classes and workshops, I strive to create spaces that are safe, engaging, and open, and I do my best to provide scholarships and financial assistance to those who need it most, because not having money should never bar you from opportunities in life. This is how I contribute, and I can only do my best to improve on my skills as a writer, teacher, activist, and artist every day. Even if the changes are small, change equals growth. And I’d rather grow than stay still.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.danadegreff.com/
- Email: danarevadegreff@gmail.com
- Instagram: DanaDeGreff
- Facebook: Dana De Greff
Image Credit:
Ekaterina Juskowski for all photos of me at Books & Books. All other photos by Elia Khalaf from the SIDExSIDE project.
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