Howard Bryant

Howard Bryant is the author of ten books, Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Original (Mariner Books, 2022), Full Dissidence: Notes From an Uneven Playing Field (Beacon Press, 2020), The Heritage: Black Athletes, A Divided America and the Politics of Patriotism (Beacon Press, 2018), The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron (Pantheon, 2010), Juicing the Game: Drugs, Power, and the Fight for the Soul of Major League Baseball (Viking, 2005), Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston (Routledge 2002), the three-book Legends sports series for middle-grade readers (Penguin, 2014-17), and Sisters and Champions: The True Story of Venus and Serena Williams (Penguin, 2018) illustrated by Floyd Cooper. He has contributed essays to 21 other books and anthologies.

He is a three-time National Magazine Award nominee (2016, 2018, 2021), a two-time Casey Award winner (Shut Out, 2003, The Last Hero, 2011) for best baseball book of the year, and a 2003 finalist for the Society for American Baseball Research Seymour Medal. The Heritage was the recipient of the 2019 Nonfiction Award from the American Library Association’s Black Caucus and the Harry Shaw and Katrina Hazard Donald Award for Outstanding Work in African American Studies awarded by the Popular Culture Association. He also earned the 2016 Salute to Excellence Award from the National Association of Black Journalists.

Mr. Bryant has been a senior writer for ESPN since 2007 and has served as the sports correspondent for NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday since 2006. In 2017, he served as the guest editor for the Best American Sports Writing anthology.

In 2021, he joined the production company Meadowlark Media and joined HBO's Back on the Record with Bob Costas as an Executive Producer.

Mr. Bryant has appeared in several documentaries, including Baseball: The Tenth Inning, Jackie Robinson, and Muhammad Ali, directed by Ken Burns, and Major League Legends: Hank Aaron, produced by the Smithsonian and Major League Baseball.

Previously, Mr. Bryant worked at the Washington Post, the Boston Herald, The Record (Hackensack, NJ), the San Jose Mercury News and the Oakland Tribune.