Awards and Honors
Kratz Writing Fellow
D. Watkins is Editor at Large for Salon. His work has been published in the New York Times, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, and other publications. He holds a Master鈥檚 in Education from Johns Hopkins University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the 极乐禁地.
He is a college professor at the 极乐禁地 and founder of the BMORE Writers Project, and has also been the recipient of numerous awards including BMe Genius Grant, Ford鈥檚 Men of Courage, and named by Ricihtopia as one of the 200 Most Influential Writers in the World. Watkins was also a finalist for the Hurston Wright Legacy Award and Books for A Better Life. He has lectured at countless universities, and events, around the world. Watkins has been featured as a guest and commentator on NBC鈥檚 Meet the Press, CNN鈥檚 The Erin Burnett Show, Democracy Now and NPR鈥檚 Monday Morning, among other shows.
Watkins is from and lives in East 极乐禁地e. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Beast Side: Living (and Dying) While Black in America and The Cook Up: A Crack Rock Memoir and We Speak for Ourselves.
Books
Watkins, D. (2021). Where Tomorrow鈥檚 Aren鈥檛 Promised: A Memoir Of Survival And Hope. Simon and Schuster.
Magazine/Trade Publication
Watkins, D. (2023). "Air" doesn't do justice to Sonny Vaccaro, much less sneakerheads.
Watkins, D. (2023). The best cheesesteaks aren't in Philly.
Watkins, D. (2023). My preschooler's first police stop: I'm embarrassed 鈥� but not for us.
Watkins, D. (2023). Ginger ale cured every sickness when I was a kid, or so I thought 鈥� but why?.
Watkins, D. (2022). Wes Moore will be Maryland's first Black governor. Here's what scares me about his election.
Watkins, D. (2022). Salon, College was necessary for me. Will my own child need it like I did?.
Watkins, D. (2022). Salon, Don't tell me my accent doesn't exist.
Watkins, D. (2022). Don't fear the gatekeeper 鈥� or become one yourself.
Watkins, D. (2022). My reading from hell: A writer's road to self-promotion is paved with live, in-person disasters. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2021). Raekwon opens up about life before and with the Wu-Tang Clan. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2021). Tamron Hall, TV host and now mystery novelist, created a heroine to be "the reporter I wish I was". Salon.
Watkins, D. (2021). Real crab 鈥� not imitation krab 鈥� is an ingredient I'm willing to fight for. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2021). Sorry, but forced apologies are the worst. Why can't we quit this insincere ritual?. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2021). Why I won't stop writing about "trauma" to focus on joy. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2021). How are we supposed to celebrate July 4 after Juneteenth?. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2021). I love being a Girl Dad. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2021). The lost art of not having an opinion on everything. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2021). America is not on trial. Derek Chauvin is. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2021). Are we ready to start re-opening after a year of the pandemic?. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2021). I failed my friend Dante Barksdale. We all failed him.
Watkins, D. (2021). "Judas and the Black Messiah" filmmakers on exposing how the FBI hunted 1960s Black activiststs. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2021). The "race-obsessed liberal" nightmare: "We have to fight for a country that doesn't love us back". Salon.
Watkins, D. (2020). "Democracy is never perfected": David Simon on his new HBO series and the 2020 "s**tshow" election. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2020). "I'd play the s**t out of George Washington": Jimmy O. Yang talks representation & his Amazon debut. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2020). "Just Mercy": Freeing an innocent man shouldn't be this hard. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2020). "Music can bring people together": Angela Yee on Verzuz, D-Nice and doing "Breakfast Club" from home. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2020). "The Photograph" is more than just a romance 鈥� it's a much-needed picture of black excellence. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2020). "Uncut Gems" and the drive to look like a somebody, no matter what the cost. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2020). April Ryan on her Instagram show, Donald Trump and lockdown as a "creative space". Salon.
Watkins, D. (2020). Author Gabriel Bump: "We might be moving towards worse racial issues". Salon.
Watkins, D. (2020). DJ D-Nice's virtual dance parties follow the tradition of innovation in times of adversity. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2020). Edie Falco on playing a good cop, resistance to change, and Giuliani's love for "Sopranos". Salon.
Watkins, D. (2020). From hood films to a "The Banker," Nia Long wants to change the narrative for black dreams. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2020). Here's how I'm keeping occupied (and positive!) during self-isolation in an already disastrous 2020. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2020). Ibram X. Kendi: Why the coronavirus is hitting black people so hard. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2020). In solving his own son's murder, "The Pharmacist" also took on the opioid epidemic. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2020). My baby's being born same time my man is murdered 鈥� the beginning and end. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2020). Netflix's "Uncorked" spills the real truth about rejection and privilege in pursuit of passion. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2020). Only a Mile And a Big World Separated US: An All-American Story of Two Boy From the East Side of 极乐禁地e. Highline.
Watkins, D. (2020). The Netflix Aaron Hernandez doc's baffling obsession with sexuality is distracting and dangerous. Salon.
Watkins, D. (2020). Welcome to America, where a Detroit man gets the cops called on him for "banking while black". Salon.
Watkins, D. (2020). Why I'm sick of "woke" culture. Salon.