Dawnie Walton is a distinguished author and journalist who has made a significant impact in the literary world with her compelling works that explore themes of place, identity, and the influence of popular culture. She was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, and earned her MFA from the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop in 2018. Walton holds a journalism degree from Florida A&M University and has worked as an editor for several multimedia and magazine brands, including LIFE, Essence, Getty Images, and Entertainment Weekly.
Walton is best known for her debut novel, "The Final Revival of Opal & Nev," which was published in 2021 to widespread critical acclaim. The novel is a boldly imagined and cinematic work of fiction that explores issues of agency, gender, and race in art. Booklist, in a starred review, called it a "stereophonic" masterpiece that challenges conventional notions of identity and representation. The novel has won several awards, including the Aspen Words Literary Prize, the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award, the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and the Audie Award for Fiction. It was also longlisted for the 2022 Women's Prize for Fiction and named one of the best books of 2021 by The Washington Post, NPR, Esquire, and former U.S. President Barack Obama.
Walton is a graduate of the 2018 Iowa Writers Workshop and has received fellowships in fiction writing from MacDowell and the Tin House Summer Workshop. She currently describes herself as a freelance storyteller and lives with her husband in Brooklyn, New York City, where she writes her works. Walton is also the cofounder and editorial director of Ursa, an audio production company that celebrates short fiction from underrepresented voices, and is the cohost of its accompanying podcast. Her impressive background in journalism and her passion for storytelling have made her a prominent voice in contemporary literature.