Wendy S. Walters is the author of A Dead White: An Argument Against White Paint (Longlisted for the National Book Award in Nonfiction, Scribner, out 10/13/26). She is an essayist, literary journalist, and poet. Her work reflects a commitment to understanding how history and personal experience shape perspective.

Her essays appear in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, BOMB, The Yale Review, The Iowa Review, Lapham’s Quarterly, Full Bleed, and Harper’s among many others. Walters has received fellowships from Creative Capital, The Architectural League of NY, NYFA, MacDowell, Yaddo, the Studios at Mass MoCA, the Ford Foundation, BRIClab in Brooklyn and others.

Walters holds a MFA and PHD in Poetry and Literature from Cornell University. In her career as a professor, she has taught writing and literature at Parsons, The New School; Rhode Island School of Design; and Art Center. She is Associate Professor of Nonfiction in the Writing Program of the School of the Arts at Columbia University. Walters was raised near and with affection for Detroit. She lives in New York City with her husband, the writer Dan Charnas, and their son.

Photo credit: Anna Letson.