Andrea Hairston

Andrea Hairston is a playwright, novelist, and scholar. She is author of Will Do Magic For Small Change, a finalist for the Mythopoeic, Lambda, and Tiptree Award, and a New York Times Editor’s pick. Her other novels include: Redwood and Wildfire, winner of the 2011 Tiptree and Carl Brandon Awards, and Mindscape, winner of the Carl Brandon Award. Lonely Stardust, a collection of essays and plays, was published in 2014. Her play, Thunderbird at the Next World Theatre, appears in Geek Theater — 15 Plays by Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers. “Griots of the Galaxy,” a short story, appears in So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Visions of the Future. A novelette, “Saltwater Railroad,” was published by Lightspeed Magazine. She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. In her spare time, Andrea is the Louise Wolff Kahn 1931 Professor of Theatre and Africana Studies at Smith College and the Artistic Director of Chrysalis Theatre. She bikes at night year round, meeting bears, multi-legged creatures of light and breath, and the occasional shooting star.