Steven W. Thrasher
GRANTEE
Steven W. Thrasher is the the inaugural Daniel Renberg Chair of social justice in reporting at Northwestern University, the first journalism professorship in the world to focus on LGBTQ research. He is also a faculty member of the Institute of Sexual and Gender Minority Health. His debut book, The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide, was a New York Times Editors' Choice, was longlisted for both the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Literature and the PEN/American John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction, and won the POZ Award for Best in Literature. A regular contributor to Literary Hub and the Intercept, Thrasher holds a PhD in American Studies and has received honors from the Out 100, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, and the Ford Foundation. His new book, The Overseer Class, will be published by Amistad Books and HarperCollins in 2026.
