Susan Straight‘s novels include I Been in Sorrow’s Kitchen and Licked Out All the Pots (1993), Blacker Than a Thousand Midnights (1994), The Gettin Place (1996), and Highwire Moon (2001), which was a finalist for The National Book Award. Her essays have appeared in Harper’s, salon.com, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The New York Times, and on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered.
Straight’s latest novel, A Million Nightingales (2007), continues her singularly beautiful exploration of race in America. Her short stories have appeared in McSweeney’s and Zoetrope, among other publications. She has been awarded the California Book Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, and a Best American Short Story Award.
Straight was born in Riverside, California, and lives there with her three daughters. She is professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside.