About – Kristal Brent Zook

My Bio

For more than 20 years I’ve reported on social issues such as health, education, culture, politics, race, gender, and the environment.

Just out of graduate school, I began contributing articles about film, television, and books to The Village Voice and The LA Weekly. Later, I wrote for publications such as The Washington Post as well as The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Vibe, Essence, and many others. I also wrote and produced for NPR briefly, and later contributed on-air commentaries.

I’ve been a frequent guest speaker on college campuses, and have appeared on television outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, MTV, Fox, BET, PBS, and TV-One, as well as radio stations such as Pacifica Radio, Air America, and NPR, where I have worked as both a commentator and a segment producer.

In 2007, I was offered a full-time teaching position at Hofstra University on Long Island, about 35 miles east of New York City. Since then I’ve enjoyed working with our enthusiastic students as a tenured professor of journalism and as the former director of our M.A. Journalism program, where I’m happy to report that we increased enrollment by more than 300 percent! I’m also proud to say that Hofstra has also been ranked the #2 school in the entire country for media professionals.

My first love though, is writing, which I now do from both New York and Miami. So far I’ve written four books:

I hope you find something in my work that’s useful to you – something that moves you. Please feel free to sign up for email updates. Or just drop me a line to share your thoughts kristal.zook@hofstra.edu. I’d love to hear them.

Kristal Brent Zook’s memoir is a wrenching, riveting and luminous coming-of-age story about what it means to grow up biracial. Her journey reads like a multigenerational tale woven by strong biracial and Black women—in this case, the daughters, mothers and grandmothers of Zook’s family. With grace and generosity, Zook offers a universal testament to the power of forgiveness and healing—and the strength found through discovering one’s authentic identity. At a time when we often feel lost, this memoir reveals what it means to be found.

Katrina Vanden Heuvel, Publisher, The Nation

Kristal’s story touched me deeply. It will touch everyone who has struggled with feeling the ‘in-betweenness’ that propels her riveting heroine’s journey to define herself and create the family for which she yearned. The writing is as powerful as the message: love ultimately triumphs.

Gloria Feldt, New York Times bestselling author of Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take the Lead for (Everyone’s) Good

In this intimate and generous memoir, Kristal Brent Zook explores the complexities of her past and the consummation of her present as a biracial daughter of a white father who left and the Black mother and grandmother who raised her.

Ms. Magazine

We value her commitment to taking on even the most difficult stories in the interest of serious journalism.

Diane Weathers, Former editor-in-chief, Essence magazine

Kristal has a good ear, a calm manner, and high expectations. She knows exactly what works on the page and why.

Jill Kirschenbaum, Executive Producer, Wall Street Journal

Kristal Brent Zook’s coming-of-age memoir is a thought-provoking tale of triumph outdistancing pain, of never giving up on love and hope despite childhood traumas and a broken family. Kristal writes so beautifully and urgently. The Girl in the Yellow Poncho will absolutely absorb you.

Kevin Merida, Co-author of Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs

After thirty years of reporting, Kristal Brent Zook has turned inward to write a deeply personal, frank, and inspirational story about race and class.

Ada Calhoun, New York Times bestselling author of Why We Can't Sleep: Women’s New Midlife Crisis

Brilliantly capturing the complexities of contemporary Black women’s experiences, The Girl in the Yellow Poncho is the most riveting, compelling memoir I have read.

Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Women’s Studies, Spelman College

Zook recalls a childhood haunted by her missing father—and complicated by his return. A brave, heart-stirring memoir.

PEOPLE Magazine

A powerful memoir about a woman’s odyssey for connection, self-identity, and love.

Kirkus Reviews

Kristal is blessed with genuine intellectual curiosity, along with the instincts and drive of an old-fashioned reporter. Both her and her work are truly special.

Eugene Robinson, Associate editor and columnist, The Washington Post

Kristal Brent Zook has written an honest, illuminating look at her life, loves and culture.

Nelson George, Award-winning journalist and author of City Kid: A Writer’s Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success

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