Shannon Gibney, born in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1975, is an accomplished author, activist, and educator. She was adopted by Sue and Jim Gibney when she was five months old and grew up with her two biological brothers, Ben and Jon. Gibney's love for reading and writing started at a young age, and she was particularly inspired by James Baldwin's novel "Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone," which she read when she was 15. This book had a profound impact on her and solidified her desire to become a writer who tells the truth through her work.
Gibney's writing journey began in high school, where she attended Community High, a place that nurtured her independence and creativity. She later attended Carnegie Mellon University and majored in Creative Writing and Spanish, graduating with highest honors in 1997. During her time at Indiana University's Graduate Creative Writing Program, she honed her understanding of the basic elements of storytelling and served as the editor of the Indiana Review. After completing her graduate work, she moved to Minneapolis and took a job at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, the state's oldest Black newspaper.
Gibney's work as a writer and educator has earned her numerous accolades. In 2005, she received a grant from the Bush Artist Fellows Program, which allowed her to quit her job and focus on her creative work. She has since published several works, including her young adult novel "See No Color," which won the 2016 Minnesota Book Award in Young Peoples' Literature. Her novel "Dream Country," which tells the story of five generations of an African and African American family, was published in September 2018. Gibney is currently faculty in English at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, where she teaches critical and creative writing, journalism, and African Diasporic topics. She is also a Bush Artist and McKnight Writing Fellow and is at work on a children's picture book, a literary anthology of writing by women of color on miscarriage and infant loss, and a family memoir.