Suzan-Lori Parks Biography

Suzan-Lori Parks was born on May 10, 1963, in Fort Knox, Kentucky. As the daughter of a military officer, Parks moved frequently during her childhood, living in Texas, North Carolina, California, and Germany, among other locations. She loved storytelling and dreamed of being a writer until a “stern“ teacher told her to abandon English because she wasn’t talented enough. Her skills were later encouraged, however, at Mount Holyoke College by famed civil rights novelist, essayist, and poet James Baldwin (1924–87). He called Parks an “utterly astounding and beautiful creature who may become one of the most valuable artists of our time.” Baldwin introduced a resistant Parks to playwriting, which she embraced after reading Funnyhouse of a Negro (1964) by African American playwright Adrienne Kennedy (1931–).

After graduation, Parks moved to London to study drama, then to New York City. She found early success with her off-Broadway plays Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom (1989), which won the first of four Obie Awards, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World (1990), and The America Play (1994). In 2002, Parks became the first African American woman to win the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Drama, for her play Topdog/Underdog (2001). Like The America Play, it explores the character of an African American man working as an Abraham Lincoln impersonator. In 2001, Parks received the MacArthur “genius grant,” a monetary prize of $500,000 awarded to artists showing extraordinary promise.

Parks created 365 Days/365 Plays in 2002, during which she wrote a short play every day for a year. The works were staged in 2006 in over 700 theaters around the world, making it one of the largest grassroots theater collaborations in history. She won a Tony Award (2012) for her adaptation of Porgy and Bess and has received numerous other awards and grants. Parks primarily lives in New York City, teaching at NYU and serving as the Master Writer Chair at the Public Theater.