New York Times-bestselling author Dashka Slater has been telling stories since she could talk.  An award-winning journalist who writes for such publications as The New York Time Magazine and Mother Jones, she is also the author of many books of fiction and non-fiction for children, teenagers, and adults. Her work has been translated into more than fifteen languages and has won many awards, including the Wanda Gág Read Aloud Award. 

Dashka’s true crime narrative, The 57 Bus, has received numerous accolades, including the 2018 Stonewall Book Award from the American Library Association, the 2018 Beatty Award from the California Library Association, the California Book Award Gold Award for Young Adult Literature, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor. It was a YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award Finalist and an LA Times Book Award Finalist, in addition to receiving four starred reviews and being named to more than twenty separate lists of the year’s best books, including ones compiled by the Washington Post, the New York Public Library, and School Library Journal. In 2021, The 57 Bus was named to Time Magazine’s list of the 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time.

Dashka’s latest title, Accountable, is a Junior Library Guild Selection and has been called “powerful, timely, and delicately written” by Ibram X. Kendi, the #1 New York Times–bestselling and National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.

The recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Dashka was also the winner of the 2023 Kurt Vonnegut Speculative Fiction Award. A frequent speaker at schools, conferences, colleges, and universities, she teaches at Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program. She has spent most of her adult life in Oakland, California, where she is always working on far too many writing projects.

Praise for The 57 Bus

A New York Times Bestseller

Stonewall Book Award Winner—Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children's & Young Adult Literature Award

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist

A Boston Globe-Horn Book Nonfiction Honor Book Winner

One of TIME Magazine's Best YA Books of All Time

A TAYSHAS Top Ten Book

#1 School Library Journal: Teen Librarian Tool Box Best LGBTQIA+ Book

A 2019 Texas Topaz Nonfiction Reading List Book

Illinois Teen Readers' Choice Award

A School Library Journal Best Book of 2017!

A Washington Post Best Book of 2017!

One of The New York City Public Library Notable 50 Best Books for Teens!

The California Book Awards Young Adult Winner!

An ILA Notable Book for a Global Society!

Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award Winner!

Maryland Association of School Librarians YA Nominee!

The Florida Teens Read Hope Speak List Book Choice!

The Green Mountain Book Award Winner!

A 2020 Grand Canyon Nominee!

★ "The text shifts from straightforward reporting to lyrical meditations, never veering into oversentimentality or simple platitudes. Readers are bound to come away with deep empathy for both Sasha and Richard. VERDICT Slater artfully unfolds a complex and layered tale about two teens whose lives intersect with painful consequences." —School Library Journal, starred review

★ "With a journalist's eye for overlooked details, Slater does a masterful job debunking the myths of the hate-crime monster and the African-American thug, probing the line between adolescent stupidity and irredeemable depravity. Few readers will traverse this exploration of gender identity, adolescent crime, and penal racism without having a few assumptions challenged. An outstanding book that links the diversity of creed and the impact of impulsive actions to themes of tolerance and forgiveness." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "Using details gleaned from interviews, social media, surveillance video, public records, and other sources, Slater skillfully conveys the complexities of both young people’s lives and the courage and compassion of their families, friends, and advocates, while exploring the challenges and moral ambiguities of the criminal justice system. This painful story illuminates, cautions, and inspires." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ "[A] multi-layered lesson on the healing power of humanity." —Shelf Awareness, starred review

"...a powerful story of class and race (Sasha is white), gender and identity, justice and mercy, love and hate. Slater has crafted a compelling true-crime story with ramifications for our most vulnerable youth." —The Horn Book

"It is likely that this account will spark conversations, debates, and contemplation, perhaps leading readers to define for themselves what justice means."—VOYA

"A sensitive study of an incident wrapped up in so many modern conundrums." —The Financial Times

“This book challenged my views and it started a conversation in my house that I thought I’d never have. We all changed, at least in my house, because of this book.” —Kate Terbush, The LA Times

"Slater approaches both students’ perspectives with nuance and complexity, and while there are no easy answers in this narrative, her compassionate writing shows that there’s often more to the story than we see." —Cady Lang, TIME Magazine, selected as one of The Best YA Books of All Time

Praise for Accountable

**YALSA AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN NONFICTION WINNER**

CALIBA's Golden Poppy Book Awards Children's Nonfiction Winner

J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize Winner

Russell Freedman Award for Nonfiction for a Better World Winner

A California Book Award Finalist

A SCBWI Golden Kite Honor for Nonfiction Text for Older Readers

A Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Book Award High School Category Nominee

A Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award Nominee

A Massachusetts Teen Choice Book Award Nominee

A Vermont Green Mountain Book Award Nominee

A Texas Topaz Reading List Selection

A Texas Library Association TAYSHAS Top Ten Book

A Florida Teens Read List Selection

A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

A Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year

A Chicago Public Library Best Teen Nonfiction of the Year

A Common Sense Media Best Book of the Year

A Booklist Editors' Choice List Selection

A BCCB Blue Ribbons List Nonfiction Selection

A Mother Jones Books We Couldn’t Stop Thinking About in 2023

A CrimeReads Best Young Adult Mysteries, Thriller and Horror Novels of the Year

A Junior Library Guild Selection

An Amazon Best Book of the Month

A San Francisco Chronicle Datebook 17 Books We Can't Wait to Read This Summer Selection

★ “Award-winning journalist Dashka Slater (The 57 Bus) brilliantly dissects a true-crime story, exhibiting its different parts for readers and presenting a balanced narrative that illustrates the nuances inherent in all interpersonal interactions, whether in person or online . . . While readers' instinctive response may be to say Charles deserves what he gets, Slater's meticulous research from multiple perspectives highlights the difficulties of attempting to define absolute right and absolute wrong . . . Slater does not solve problems or answer the questions; instead, she scrupulously illustrates the complexity of this case, and reminds the audience that there are no quick fixes.” ―Shelf Awareness, starred review

★ “This meticulous retelling from Slater, author of the best-selling, Stonewall-winning The 57 Bus (2017), documents the ensuing events: shock, outrage, accusations, protests, threats, firings, lawsuits, and the aftermath . . . This is a compelling and contemporary cautionary tale that should be required reading for any teen before they create, comment, or even like a media post.” ―Booklist, starred review

★ “Journalist and author Slater once again achieves another level of introspection about society through the lens of teen behavior . . . The shocking reality that Albany could be any town is what sustains the rabid interest in seeing how the story plays out since it touches on many aspects of contemporary culture . . . This is a well-timed page-turner due to Slater’s investigative reporting and must be read, shared, and discussed. Make this a priority purchase.” ―School Library Journal, starred review

★ “In this gripping true story, Slater draws on her journalistic skills, utilizing interviews, court documents, social media and other sources to pull together a compelling full picture of an event that ripped apart a community and deeply impacted the lives of everyone involved. Short chapters keep the pace at a clip, as Slater’s reporting, direct quotes, and first-person poems document the emotional devastation and real world consequences over the following years of pain, flailing school administrators, protests, and lawsuits. No teen is absolved of their conduct, but everyone is understood and fully humanized . . . Perhaps Slater’s greatest feat is how successfully this nonfiction narrative informs about social media, racism, white supremacy, and restorative justice without veering into preachiness. She is able to cut to the core of the situation, searingly capturing raw pain and empathy for the harmed teens, providing enough distance to understand the complexity of the Instagram followers, and demonstrating what holding someone accountable looks like.” ―The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review

“In Accountable, Dashka Slater offers a nuanced look at multiple notions of justice while magnifying the impact of racism on those harmed and those that caused the harm. This book is powerful, timely, and delicately written.” ―Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times–bestselling and National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

“Award-winning journalist Dashka Slater (The 57 Bus) is brilliant at dissecting a true-crime story, exhibiting its different parts for readers, and relating a balanced narrative that illustrates the nuances inherent in all interpersonal interactions, in person or online . . . Slater ultimately shows readers that, while racist actions can be unconscious, they remain offensive and harmful, and the perpetrator should be held accountable. Silence, too, she communicates, is a form of condoning racism and contributes to the problem. But Slater does not solve problems or answer the questions; instead, she scrupulously illustrates the complexity of this case and reminds the audience that there are no quick fixes. This is a moving book with the power to make readers look deep within themselves for ways they can contribute to the solutions and keep from becoming a part of the problem . . . Journalist and author Dashka Slater expertly conducts a vivisection of an online racism scandal that reveals scars on the beating heart of a small town in California.” ―Shelf Awareness

“The author of the acclaimed The 57 Bus (2017) delves into another complex story involving teens, personal choices, and societal forces . . . Slater’s thorough research includes candid interviews with those on both sides. She accessibly explores edgy meme culture, online hate speech, the students’ social dynamics, a disastrous mediation session, the school district’s actions, subsequent lawsuits, and how individuals were affected post-graduation. Short, punchy chapters offer interestingly varied formats and perspectives. The book will spark deep reflection on degrees of complicity, whether and when to forgive, what contributes to genuine remorse and change, and what parents and educators could have done differently . . . Thorough, thought-provoking, and all too relevant.” ―Kirkus Reviews

“Slater (The 57 Bus) chronicles the fallout of a high schooler’s bigoted Instagram account in this emotionally raw work . . . Raising essential questions about accountability and complicity, this pertinent read encourages personal reflection and presents a balanced, non confrontational look into a situation that, as one student affirms, had gone ‘a little too far.’” ―Publishers Weekly

“Despite the plethora of books, both fiction and nonfiction, that take a stab at exploring American race-relations, I’ve never read anything like this one. Not only does Accountable reach far beyond Black and white, it gives readers―especially young ones―searing insight into the consequences of unchecked biases, both external and internalized. Again, Dashka Slater has gifted us with an immaculate page-turner of a book―made even more powerful by the fact that everything in it is true.” ―Nic Stone, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Dear Martin

“Accountable is a gripping look at the various impacts of racism, the gray areas of responsibility, and the boundaries of friendship. This is nonfiction at its finest.” ―Brandy Colbert, award-winning author of Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

“An urgent read for every teen who uses social media. Dashka Slater has created a deeply researched, nuanced story about the intersection of old wounds and new technology―and how a few thoughtless moments can undo an entire community. It is an absolute page-turner, more powerful because every word in it is true. Slater is at the top of her game. Don’t miss this book.” ―Martha Brockenbrough, award-winning author of Alexander Hamilton, Revolutionary

“I cannot even begin to say how important Dashka Slater's book is. Certainly every teenager should read it as a condition of being on social media, but honestly? Adults―especially parents and educators―need to read it too. Slater has compellingly, sensitively, and usefully distilled crucial issues in the zeitgeist in a way that no one else has managed to do. Accountable is magnificent.” ―Peggy Orenstein, author of the New York Times bestsellers Boys & Sex, Girls & Sex, Cinderella Ate My Daughter and Waiting for Daisy