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Dana Canedy

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Dana Canedy
Canedy in 2018
Born (1965-06-08) June 8, 1965 (age 59)
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Kentucky (B.A.)
Occupation(s)Journalist, publishing executive
Notable workA Journal for Jordan
Children1

Dana Canedy (born June 8, 1965) is an American journalist, author, and publishing executive who worked at the New York Times for over 20 years, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 2001. She was appointed senior vice president and publisher of Simon & Schuster's flagship eponymous imprint in July 2020.[1] She is the first African-American to head a "major publishing imprint".[2]

From 2017 to 2020, she served as administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes.[3][4]

Early life and career

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Canedy was born in Indianapolis[5] and grew up in Radcliff, Kentucky, near Fort Knox, in a military family.[6] She graduated from the University of Kentucky and worked at The Palm Beach Post and The Plain Dealer before joining The New York Times in 1996.[7] She was named a senior editor at The New York Times in 2006.[7] In August 2017, Canedy became administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes at Columbia University, the first woman and first person of color to hold the position.[8][9][10]

She is co-author of the series "How Race Is Lived in America", which won a Pulitzer Prize in 2001.[8][9] Canedy's segment in the series, "The Hurt Between the Lines: A Newsroom Divides After a Healing Series on Race," focused on the similar yet divergent paths of two award-winning columnists, one white, one black, from the Akron Beacon-Journal.[11]

She is the author of the memoir A Journal for Jordan: A Story of Love and Honor (2008), which grew out of an essay she wrote for The New York Times about the death of her fiancé, United States Army First Sergeant Charles Monroe King, in the Iraq War and the journal he left for their son.[6] In a 2009 interview, Canedy said: "I needed to do something with my grief, after Charles died, something productive."[12] In January 2018, Sony Pictures hired Academy Award-nominated writer Virgil Williams (Mudbound) to adapt Canedy's book into a film directed and co-produced by Denzel Washington.[13][7] The resulting film A Journal for Jordan was released on Christmas Day, 2021 to mixed reviews.

As Pulitzer Prize administrator, Canedy has said the organization will do more to defend press freedom, "especially at a time when the news media is under extraordinary assault."[5] On May 30, 2018, she oversaw the annual awards luncheon at Columbia, telling Kendrick Lamar (the first non-classical, non-jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music) that "we're both making history this year."[14]

Canedy lives in New York City.[7]

References

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  1. ^ Harris, Elizabeth A. (6 July 2020). "Simon & Schuster Names Dana Canedy New Publisher". The New York Times.
  2. ^ Martin, Rachel (8 July 2020). "Dana Canedy Is 1st Black Person To Head Major Publishing Imprint". NPR.org.
  3. ^ "Journalist, Author Dana Canedy Is Elected Administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes". www.pulitzer.org. 12 July 2017.
  4. ^ "Pulitzer Administrator Dana Canedy Steps Down To Accept Publisher Role at Simon & Schuster". www.pulitzer.org. 6 July 2020.
  5. ^ a b Harris, Roy (2017-09-22). "Changes ahead for Pulitzers? Stay tuned, says new administrator". Poynter.org. Retrieved 2018-04-13.
  6. ^ a b Canedy, Dana (2007-01-01). "From Father to Son, Last Words to Live By". New York Times. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
  7. ^ a b c d "History Makers - Dana Canedy".
  8. ^ a b "The Pulitzer Prizes". pulitzer.org. Retrieved 2017-07-12.
  9. ^ a b "Journalist, Author Dana Canedy Is Elected Administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes". Columbia University. 2017-07-12. Retrieved 2017-08-02.
  10. ^ Ember, Sydney (2017-07-12). "Dana Canedy, Former Times Editor, Will Administer the Pulitzers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
  11. ^ Canedy, Dana (2000-06-29). "The Hurt Between the Lines: A Newsroom Divides After a Healing Series on Race". New York Times. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  12. ^ Canedy, Dana (2009-01-21). "Dana Canedy On Why She Wrote "A Journal For Jordan"'". Crown Publishing Group. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
  13. ^ McNary, Dave (2018-01-29). "'Mudbound' Writer Virgil Williams to Adapt Denzel Washington's 'A Journal for Jordan'". Variety. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
  14. ^ Beard, David (2018-05-31). "Inviting someone new to the Pulitzer party". Poynter.org. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
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