news - Dana Shavin

In July, 2025, I received first place in the Green Eyeshade journalism contest for my columns in the Humor and Satire writing category for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, and 2nd place in the Travel Writing category for my article about artist Tres Taylor’s 247-mile long mural trail through the Alabama black belt. (About the Green Eyeshade awards: “The nation’s largest and oldest regional journalism contest, the Green Eyeshade journalism awards, is now in its 75th year, marking a major milestone in recognizing the best journalism across the Southeastern United States. This year we revamped the entire contest and had a record number of entries. For the first time, journalists from Virginia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands were eligible to compete, joining the previous states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.”)
In June 2025, I received fifth place in the Tennessee Press Association’s 2025 Best Personal Column category for my column about my mom, who has Alzheimer’s, and me. You can read it here: What a long, strange trip it’s been.
In March, 2025 I applied for and was awarded a Literary Arts Grant through ArtsBuild, whose mission is to build stronger communities through the arts with their investments in arts access, arts education, and arts leadership. Read more about the grant, Writing Classes for the Curious, here.
On February 1, 2025, I became the Literary Arts Program Coordinator for the Dalton Creative Arts Guild in Dalton, Georgia.
My second book, Finding the World: Thoughts on Life, Love Home and Dogs, is now available. It’s a collection of my most popular Chattanooga Times Free Press columns from the past twenty years. It’s funny, serious, and touches on everything from, well, life, to dogs, and everything in-between.

Thank you to the 2024 Green Eyeshade awards, recognizing excellence in journalism throughout the southeast since 1950, for awarding me THIRD PLACE in the humor division.

Thank you to the 2023 Green Eyeshade awards, recognizing excellence in journalism throughout the southeast since 1950, for awarding me THIRD PLACE in the humor division.

Thank you to the 2021 Green Eyeshade awards, recognizing excellence in journalism throughout the southeast since 1950, for awarding me FIRST PLACE in the travel writing division.

Thank you to the 2020 Green Eyeshade awards, recognizing excellence in journalism throughout the southeast since 1950, for awarding me FIRST PLACE in the humor division. Since 1950, The Green Eyeshades have recognized the very best journalism in the southeastern United States.

Thank you to the National Society of Newspaper Columnists who in 2019 awarded me second place in the Humor division, print circulation over 50,000. Award presented by Chris Carosa, NSNC president, and Washington Post syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker. (Below)

November 1, 2014: My memoir, The Body Tourist, was published by Little Feather Books.

THANK YOU Jacquelyn Mitchard, for the awesome review:

“The Body Tourist is riveting reading, the biography of an illness as stubborn as the woman determined to kill it. Dana Lise Shavin can write with both hands, by turns comic and tragic, and always fiercely honest. If you think that anorexia is a ‘done’ topic, think again.”

—Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean

Here’s what other reviewers are saying:

“This is what I want in a memoir, a personal journey that draws me in, told beautifully with shattering self-awareness and an eye for detail. What sets it apart is Shavin’s vivid prose and gutting sense of humor. The Body Tourist is a witty, insightful read… a courageous journey for all of us trying to push our weight around in the world.”

—Eleanor McCallie Cooper, author of Grace: An American Woman in China

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“The miracle of this masterful memoir is knowing this vulnerable, lost girl turns into the compassionate, wise narrator of The Body Tourist. Shavin draws us into the anorexic world and makes us want to stay—although being there is excruciating. Brilliant—I couldn’t put it down.”

—Suzanne Fisher Staples, author of Under the Persimmon Tree

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“What makes the book so compelling is Shavin’s elegant prose and her intensely personal writing style. The book is distinctive because it pulls off a rare triple play, blending Shavin’s points of view as a writer, professional therapist, and patient.”

—Mark Kennedy, Chattanooga Times Free Press

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“A courageous memoir about living with a life-threatening eating disorder… She writes an honest, compelling story… Dana’s contribution through this memoir is a great one…with a healthy optimistic ending.”—Elise Walters, NetGalley Reviewer

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“Absolutely a cracker of a book… brilliant.”

–Pam Thomas, Bluefish Book Reviews

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“Brave, edgy, funny, insightful, heartfelt, searching — these are some of the adjectives that Dana Lise Shavin’s coming-of-age memoir THE BODY TOURIST inspires. Shavin spins off wacky, inventive images…Her incisive writing gives impact to the serious moments.”

–Mimi Jones, Goodreads

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Thank you….

…Chatter Magazine, for running Crossing a Thin Line in the November, 2014 issue.

…Chattanooga Jewish Cultural Center for hosting An Evening with Dana Shavin Nov. 13, 2014.

…KMSU Weekly Reader, in Mankato, MN, for interviewing me October 30, 2014, hosted by the English department at Minnesota State U.

…Dennis Price of Fairfax, Virginia Radio Hotline, for the fabulous hour-long live interview Nov. 25. Listen here.

AND:

**“The Death of Charles Black,” excerpted from The Body Tourist (pre-publication) received an Honorable Mention in Glimmer Train, 2013.

**“Tell Me About Yourself,” excerpted from The Body Tourist, was published in Lime Hawk Literary Journal‘s online edition and 2015 print edition. Read it here: http://www.limehawk.org/tell-me-about-yourself.

**“A Cure for Death,” excerpted from The Body Tourist, appeared in the online journal If and Only If in early November, 2014.

**My interview with Erika Funke of NPR radio in Scranton, PA (WVIA) aired June 27, 2014. Listen to Erika read an excerpt from The Body Tourist, and hear the interview here: http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wvia/local-wvia-1034719.mp3

**The Chattanooga Times Free Press ran a story on me Sept. 25, 2014: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2014/sep/25/kennedy-food-for-thought/?opinioncolumns

OH AND ALSO
**My guest blog for Dr. Nina Savelle Rocklin, “$%^& My Anorexia Says,” went live Jan, 2, 2015.
**My guest blog fro Dr. Stacey Rosenfeld, The Best Worst Question, went live March 11, 2015. (You’ll have to scroll down a bit to find this one.)
**My guest blog for WritersDigest.com, Crafting Personal Pain, went live Feb. 19, 2015.
**Below, Carol Lannon of the Signal Mountain Mirror interviewed me and writes about The Body Tourist and why we talk openly about mental illness. (Click image to enlarge)