Dara Harper

Dara Harper was born in Detroit, MI and developed a passion for storytelling at an early age. She is a novelist, Off Broadway playwright, journalist, artist and award-winning filmmaker. She has worked on projects for MTV and Nickelodeon. She attended the Detroit High School for Fine and Performing Arts. While in college at the International Academy of Design and Technology in Chicago, she worked as the Graphic Designer for the Hyde Park Herald (a weekly newspaper.) She graduated with a degree in Interactive Media and won the Best African American Filmmaker Award at the Brooklyn Film Festival for her animated short film, "la Revolution." While residing in New York City, she was accepted into the Harlem Writer's Guild and the Amsterdam Writer's Group. Her feature film, "Sweeter Without Sugar" was an official selection at the African American Women In Cinema Film Festival. Her debut play, "Passing" had a sold-out run Off-Broadway and was nominated for an Audience Development Committee, Inc. Award. Her follow-up play, "Shades Of War" was selected at as a top pick in the "Village Voice" and "Time Out New York." She is the author of several novels and the children's book "No Glasses For Me." Dara wrote and directed an independently produced TV pilot for preschool children, "Jamal & JoJo." She is the director and writer of the CG-animated feature film, "The Sky Princess", an official selection of the African Diaspora International Film Festival.