Damon Young

Damon Young is writer, critic, humorist, and professional black person. He's a co-founder and editor in chief of VerySmartBrothas -- coined "the blackest thing that ever happened to the internet" by The Washington Post and recently acquired by Univision and Gizmodo Media Group to be a vertical of The Root -- and a columnist for GQ.com. Damon's writing -- which vacillates from anthropological satire and absurdist racial insights to razor sharp cultural critique and unflinching indictments of privilege and bias -- has often generated praise from his peers. Ava DuVernay called his voice "clear and critical." Micheal Eric Dyson said he's "one of the most important young voices in humor writing today." And Kiese Laymon called his work "the best of American twenty-first century writing." A native Pittsburgher who attended Canisius College on a basketball scholarship, Damon is also a member of ACLU Pennsylvania's State Board. He currently resides in Pittsburgh's Northside, with his wife and daughter and many half empty boxes of gourmet pancake mix.