Daniel Bergner, New Arizona Fellow, is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and the author of five books of literary nonfiction. His most recent book, Sing for Your Life, about race and art, tells the story of a young African-American man who was locked up—in solitary cells—in Virginia's juvenile institution of last resort and is now singing at the Metropolitan Opera. Bergner's work has also appeared in the Atlantic, Granta, Harper’s, Mother Jones, Talk, the New York Times Book Review, and on the op-ed page of the New York Times.
Bergner spent his Fellowship year working on a book—both intimate and scientific—about how we as a culture conceptualize and treat mental health issues.
Selected Work
- The Struggles of Rejecting the Gender Binary: A story about what it’s like to be nonbinary in a world that wants to box you in. (A note from Daniel, “Though this piece and the ones below are not directly related to my current project, they do reflect the two areas that have dominated my work, psychology and race.”)
- The Making of a Molester: A profile of a convicted pedophile who is trying to navigate his way back into a society.
- Sing for Your Life: A story about an American Idol-like competition for opera singers.
- White Fragility’ Is Everywhere. But Does Antiracism Training Work?: A story about the teachings of White Fragility author Robin DiAngelo and other antiracism educators.
