MK Asante is a bestselling author and award-winning filmmaker who CNN calls “a master storyteller and major creative force.”
The author of four celebrated books, Asante is a recipient of the Langston Hughes Award. His latest book, It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop, was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “An empowering book that moves you to action and to question status quo America.”
Asante’s new book, Buck, a memoir set in Philadelphia, was selected as a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick and will be released August, 20th, 2013.
Asante directed The Black Candle, a Starz TV movie he co-wrote with Maya Angelou who also narrates the prize-winning film. He wrote and produced the film 500 Years Later, winner of five international film festival awards, and produced the multi award-winning film Motherland.
Asante studied at the University of London, earned a BA from Lafayette College, and an MFA from the UCLA School of Film and Television.
Asante has toured over 30 countries as well as throughout the United States at hundreds of colleges, universities, libraries, concerts, and festivals. He was awarded the Key to the City of Dallas, Texas.
He has been featured on the CBS Early Show, NBC News, BBC America, and NPR. Asante’s essays on art, technology, and culture have been published in USA Today, Huffington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and the New York Times. He can also be heard rhyming on “Godz N the Hood,” a new song by hip hop legends Ras Kass and Talib Kweli.
Asante is a tenured professor of creative writing and film in the Department of English and Language Arts at Morgan State University.
