Writing
Kristal is an award-winning journalist and the author of six books. Her writing on race, women, culture, and social justice has appeared in Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, ESSENCE, Entertainment Weekly, TIME, LIFE, and The Guardian, among other outlets.
Her books include The Girl in the Yellow Poncho (Duke University Press), Tulsa Speaks (Rutgers University Press), Color By Fox (Oxford University Press), and I See Black People (Nation Books), with Black Women’s Lives forthcoming in February 2027.
Kristal also collaborates with clients on nonfiction books and memoirs, bringing more than 25 years of experience as a reporter and an amazing ear for narrative. She works quickly and carefully, as a conscientious, empathetic listener, and is represented by Laura Nolan at Aevitas Creative.
Speaking
Kristal is available for virtual and in-person keynote speaking engagements and loves to do Zoom book clubs! As a speaker, she moves fluidly across four core areas: race and mixed race identity, women’s lives, popular culture, and the fight for social justice. She also moderates panels and leads intensive writing workshops, drawing on both investigative reporting skills and rigorous academic training.
Requests for speaking engagements should go to kristal.zook@hofstra.edu.
Teaching
Dr. Zook is a tenured professor of journalism at Hofstra University in New York, where she has taught for nearly twenty years. She also travels across the country to lead a custom writing workshop—”From the Ivory Tower to the Newsstand”—for academics, non-profits, and corporations, helping scholars and researchers make their work accessible to a mainstream audience.
