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Mia McKenzie

Biography

Mia McKenzie is an American writer and activist who was born and raised in Philadelphia and was based in the Bay Area during the period when she created and developed Black Girl Dangerous. She studied writing at the University of Pittsburgh and has received the Astraea Foundation Writers Fund Award and the Leeway Foundation Transformation Award. Her debut novel, The Summer We Got Free, won the 2013 Lambda Literary Award for Debut Fiction.


In 2012, McKenzie created Black Girl Dangerous, an online blog and forum for creative and political expression that amplified the voices of queer and trans writers of color. The project grew into a widely read media platform and later developed into Black Girl Dangerous Media, an independent media and education project centered on queer Black women and girls. McKenzie's writing has appeared in publications including The Kenyon Review, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, and make/shift.


Her later books include the essay collection Black Girl Dangerous on Race, Queerness, Class and Gender and the novels Skye Falling and These Heathens. Skye Falling won the 2022 Lambda Literary Award. Published in 2025, These Heathens is set in 1960 Georgia and follows a seventeen-year-old girl who travels to Atlanta seeking an abortion, encountering questions of autonomy, community, race, and queer life during the Civil Rights Movement.


BQW Impact

McKenzie has contributed to Black queer literary and media culture by creating spaces where queer Black women, girls, and other QTBIPOC writers could publish their experiences and perspectives. Through Black Girl Dangerous, she helped build a platform for writing about race, gender, sexuality, class, and social justice from intersectional perspectives.


Her fiction and essays extend that work into literature, centering Black and queer characters and exploring autonomy, community, family, desire, and belonging. Her work connects literary storytelling with community-building and political analysis, contributing to the visibility and documentation of Black queer histories and contemporary experiences.


Notable Works

  • The Summer We Got Free (2012)

    Debut novel exploring Black womanhood, family, sexuality, trauma, and liberation; it won the 2013 Lambda Literary Award for Debut Fiction.

  • Black Girl Dangerous (2012)

    Online blog and media platform created by McKenzie that amplified the voices of queer and trans writers of color.

  • Black Girl Dangerous on Race, Queerness, Class and Gender (2014)

    Collection examining race, queerness, class, gender, and intersecting systems of oppression.

  • The Solidarity Struggle (2016)

    Collection edited by McKenzie examining how people of color navigate solidarity, difference, and collective struggle in movements for freedom.

  • Skye Falling (2021)

    Novel exploring family, responsibility, love, race, queerness, and community; it won the 2022 Lambda Literary Award.

  • These Heathens (2025)

    Historical novel set in 1960 Georgia, following a seventeen-year-old girl who travels to Atlanta seeking an abortion while encountering questions of autonomy, community, race, and queer life during the Civil Rights Movement.

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