Heidi W. Durrow

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About Heidi W. Durrow
Heidi W. Durrow is the New York Times best-selling author of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky (Algonquin Books), which received writer Barbara Kingsolver's 2008 PEN/Bellwether Prize, and is already a book club favorite. The Girl Who Fell From the Sky has been hailed as one of the Best Novels of 2010 by the Washington Post, a Top 10 Book of 2010 by The Oregonian, a Top 10 Buzz Book of 2010 by the Boston Herald and named a Top 10 Debut of 2010 by Booklist. Ebony Magazine named Heidi as one of its Power 100 Leaders of 2010 along with writers Edwidge Danticat, and Malcolm Gladwell. Heidi was nominated for a 2011 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Debut.
Heidi W. Durrow is a graduate of Stanford, Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism and Yale Law School.
Originally from Portland, Oregon, Heidi has worked as a corporate litigator at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, and as a Life Skills trainer to professional athletes of the National Football League and National Basketball Association. She was the co-host of the award-winning weekly podcast Mixed Chicks Chat and now host of The Mixed Experience; and was a founder and executive producer of the now defunct Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival. She is now spearheading the Mixed Remixed Festival, an annual free public event, that celebrates stories of the Mixed experience. She is an occasional essay contributor to National Public Radio.
She is the recipient of a Fellowship in Fiction from the New York Foundation for the Arts, a Jerome Foundation Fellowship for Emerging Writers, a Jentel Foundation Residency, and won top honors in the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition and the Chapter One Fiction Contest. She has received grants from the Elizabeth George Foundation, the American Scandinavian Foundation, the Roth Endowment and the American Antiquarian Society. She has also received Fellowships to the Norman Mailer Writers' Colony and the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference. Durrow's writing has appeared in the New York Times, Ebony Magazine, Alaska Quarterly Review, The Literary Review, Smokelong Quarterly, Callaloo, Poem/Memoir/Story, the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, Essence magazine, and Newsday.
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Blog postI am very excited to teach another week-long writing workshop this Fall in October 2019 at Hedgebrook, an idyllic writer's retreat where I was in residence for 4 weeks in 1998 (before I had published a single word!) and again in 2010 for a two-week stay (at the end of my hardcover book tour).
The workshop, Beginner's Mind: A Master Class to Turn Your Yearning to Write Into Words, is tailored for the person who has always wanted to write for a living and wants to grow th3 years ago Read more -
Blog postI am very excited to teach another week-long writing workshop in February 2017 at Djerassi, an idyllic writer's retreat where I was in residence for 4 weeks in 2005 and 2013.
The workshop is geared to people working on their first novel and is well-suited for those writing about difference, race, and social justice. The workshop will include workshop manuscript critiques, time for new writing as well as workshop writing prompts, a private consultation of 50 pages of your manuscript, a6 years ago Read more -
Blog postLook Who’s Talking About Mixed Remixed Festival ‘Loving Day’ Petition Launched in Hope of Broader Recognition by Sylvia Cunningham
A Festival For Mixed-Race Storytellers — And Everyone Else, Too by Leah Donnella
Hundreds head to downtown L.A. for nation’s largest gathering for multiracial people by Anh Do
6 years ago Read more -
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I'm excited to announce that I'll teach a week-long writing workshop Writing the Debut Novel: Developing Your Craft & Your Career in January 2016 at Djerassi, an idyllic writer's retreat where I was in residence for 4 weeks in 2005 and 2013. The workshop is geared to debut novelists and is well-suited for those writing about difference, race, and social justice. The workshop will include workshop manuscript critiques, time for new writing as well as workshop writing pr7 years ago Read more -
Blog postHow excited was I to be asked to write a piece for the New York Times again. It happened to coincide with the end of the 2015 Mixed Remixed Festival which was a huge success. Actually better than huge! It was the best-attended (we had standing room only in almost every program). We had the best press coverage: not just the New York Times, but also NBC News, KTLA, and a full-page feature in the New York Times And we had the best feeling of energy and love. I felt7 years ago Read more
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Blog postI wanted to share more great artwork inspired by my book. These drawings were done by a student from ENG 200H, Critical Thinking & Writing, Honors class at Wor-Wic Community College taught by Melissa Reddish. To see more artwork inspired by my book, check out this wonderful image gallery.
7 years ago Read more -
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Blog postI was elated and honored to receive an email with this image from Jill Kuanfung, an incredibly talented young artist who was inspired to paint this piece after reading The Girl Who Fell From the Sky. Check out more of her work here. I see an amazing career in the works! To see more artwork inspired by my book, check out this wonderful image gallery.
8 years ago Read more -
Blog postIt's Oyster Books' (think of them like the Netflix of books) 1st Birthday and they are celebrating with a giveaway! Vote for your favorite books and you have a chance to win a year's subscription to Oyster! The Girl Who Fell From the Sky is up for Most Popular against some heavy-hitters including fellow Yale Law grad Gretchin Rubin's The Happiness Project and the classic The Giver by Lois Lowry. Please vote now. Voting closes on Sunday.
8 years ago Read more -
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I'm excited to announce that I'll teach a week-long writing workshop (Writing the Debut Novel the Non-MFA Way) in February 2015 at Djerassi, an idyllic writer's retreat where I was in residence for 4 weeks in 2005 and 2013. The workshop is geared to debut novelists and is well-suited for those writing about difference, race, and social justice. The workshop will include workshop manuscript critiques, time for new writing as well as workshop writing prompts, a private consultati8 years ago Read more -
Blog postI'm excited to visit what was once my homestate on Sept. 16. I'll be visiting with students and speaking at Salem College in Winston-Salem, NC. The school selected The Girl Who Fell From the Sky as the First-Year Read. It's an incredible honor and I can't wait to hear what the students have to say!
8 years ago Read more -
Blog postI'm super excited to kick off the new season of The Mixed Experience, my weekly podcast, that features the musings of a mixed chick on a mixed-up world, culture, politics, and the arts. Season 2 begins with an interview with the wonderfully talented author Celeste Ng (Everything I Never Told You). Her book--which has received rave reviews--is a great-read: a literary thriller about an interracial family. Check out the interview here.
8 years ago Read more -
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Blog postMore than 700 multiracial and multicultural families and individuals enjoyed a day of workshops, panel presentations, film screenings, readings and performance at the Mixed Remixed Festival June 14, 2014.
"The event was a huge success," said Festival Founder Heidi Durrow. "What people kept telling me was that they felt like they were coming home!"
The Festival featured more than 5 dozen writers, scholars, filmmakers and performers in a varied set of p8 years ago Read more -
Blog postI truly enjoyed this conversation with Lisa Nicole Bell, host of the podcast Behind the Brilliance. Check it out here. I've been off the interview circuit for so long, I didn't have my "rehearsed" stuff to say and end up sharing a lot of stuff I haven't shared before about my life and my process and writing The Girl Who Fell From the Sky. Lisa called the show "From 48 Rejections to New York Times Bestseller." Let me know what you think!
8 years ago Read more -
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Blog postHelp make The Girl Who Fell From the Sky a #1 Bestseller! It's currently #64 on Amazon Bestseller list for ALL ebooks. And it's on sale for $1.99 TODAY ONLY! You can also get it for Kobo (support indie bookstores!) and on Bookbub for $1.99 too!
8 years ago Read more -
Blog postIt's May and that means it's Mixed Experience History Month, a month-long celebration of people and events that have shaped the Mixed experience. I founded this celebration in 2007 with the hope of bringing awareness to the long history of racial and cultural connectedness. I had become frustrated with the idea that my discussions of "mixed-ness" was for a small niche-group and set out to show that the Mixed experience is the American experience--that we're all part of t8 years ago Read more
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Titles By Heidi W. Durrow
"The Girl Who Fell from the Sky can actually fly." —The New York Times Book Review
Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I., becomes the sole survivor of a family tragedy after a fateful morning on their Chicago rooftop.
Forced to move to a new city, with her strict African American grandmother as her guardian, Rachel is thrust for the first time into a mostly black community, where her light brown skin, blue eyes, and beauty bring a constant stream of attention her way. It’s there, as she grows up and tries to swallow her grief, that she comes to understand how the mystery and tragedy of her mother might be connected to her own uncertain identity.
This searing and heart-wrenching portrait of a young biracial girl dealing with society’s ideas of race and class is the winner of the Bellwether Prize for best fiction manuscript addressing issues of social justice.