Dara Mathis, Recipient of $100,000 American Mosaic Journalism Prize

Dara T. Mathis, Writer, Journalist, and an Alkebulan Alumni has just received the largest media award in the country.

Dara gave an interview with Essence where she confirmed being awarded the prize. “I was shocked. I didn’t see it coming at all. The entire process is a surprise and when I got the email from the director…I went into it almost like an interview.” Click here to read her entire interview with Essence.

Dara’s whose work examines parenthood, identity, and linkages to Black memory. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Week, Blackbird, Romper, and other outlets. She is a 2024 MacDowell Fellow.

Dara is working on a memoir blending oral history, reporting, and research that chronicles her family history in a radical Black commune—and how liberation movements can shatter and transform the way we imagine the world. “A Blueprint for Black Liberation,” published in 2023, is based on that work.

Click here to read Dara’s selected works: