Resume
An award-winning writer and thought leader, Rohan Preston has been the marquee performing arts critic at the Star Tribune since 1998. He reviews shows, writes features and breaks news on the 70-plus professional theater companies that call the Twin Cities home, including flagships such as the Guthrie, Children's and Chanhassen Dinner theaters as well as Broadway tour houses such as the Orpheum and the Ordway.
A versatile and prolific collaborator, he has written over 5,000 stories for the Star Tribune, from reviews and features to obituaries and breaking news. And while his primary focus has been the performing arts, he also has written homes and gardens, architecture, literature, music and dance. He has interviewed the likes of Arthur Miller, Stephen Sondheim, Edward Albee, August Wilson, Jessica Lange, Julie Taymor and Lynn Nottage. Through his work over a quarter century, he has helped to shape the arts ecology in one of the nation’s cultural meccas, making it more vibrant and dynamic. He also has had a national impact, including by serving on panels such as the Pulitzer Prize jury for drama, the National Endowment for the Arts theater selection panel, and on units for the MacArthur and McKnight foundations.
Preston originated and led a Star Tribune team that won an Emmy in 2009 for a documentary on the historic 2008 presidential election. In 2009, he served as critic-in-residence at Bethel University, teaching a class and engaging students in the arts. He repeated that role at Macalester college, where he also was a professor and critic in residence in 2023.
Before coming to the Twin Cities, he worked for seven years as an arts writer for the Chicago Tribune and for six years as a national news stringer for the New York Times.
Also a creative writer, composer and photographer, Preston authored several poetry collections and chapbooks, including “Sweetie mango suite: poems and reveries of rural Jamaica”; “Jazz people”; and “Capital Suite: execution poems.” He co-edited “Soulfires: Young Black Men on Love and Violence” (Viking/Penguin, 1996).
AWARDS/HONORS
Midwest Regional Emmy, “Obama: History Maker”
Star Tribune Editor’s Award, “Obama: A Dream Fulfilled”
Silver Award, Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards for “Senegal: The Return”
Star Tribune Flash Award, coverage of August Wilson
Daily News Poetry Prize for best poetry in an edition of The Caribbean Writer
Featured writer & critic, Calabash Literary Festival, Kingston, Jamaica
Travel & Study Grant, Jerome Foundation, St. Paul, Minn., for poetry writing visit to ancestral communities in Jamaica.
SELECTED ANTHOLOGIES
“Blues Vision: African American Writing in Minnesota” (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2015), edited by Alexs Pate and Pamela Fletcher;
“Dream of a Word” (Tia Chucha/Northwestern University Press, 2006), edited by Quraysh Ali Lansana and Toni Asante Lightfoot;
“Bum Rush the Page: a def poetry jam” (Three Rivers Press, 2001), edited by Tony Medina and Louis Reyes Rivera;
“Not Guilty: Twelve Black Men Speak Out on Love, Justice and Life” (Amistad/HarperCollins, 2001), edited by Jabari Asim;
“Step Into a World: A Global Anthology of the New Black Literature” (Wiley, 2000), edited by Kevin Powell;
“American Poetry: The Next Generation” (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2000), edited by Gerald Costanzo; “Beyond the Frontier” (Black Classics Press, 1999), edited by E. Ethelbert Miller; “Wheel and Come Again: An Anthology of Reggae Poetry” (Peepal Tree Press, 1998, U.K./Goose Lane Editions, N.A.), edited by Kwame Dawes.
PEER & ARTS SERVICE
On-air critic and arts commentator, WCCO CBS Radio
(2009—2024)
Panelist, McKnight Foundation Distinguished Artist (2017-2020)
Recommender and reference, MacArthur Foundation (2011-2013)
Juror, Pulitzer Prize for Drama (2007, 2012)
Panelist, Theater and Musical Theater, National Endowment for the Arts (2012)
National judge, Hopwood Award, University of Michigan (2003)
Radio host, Caribbean Jam, KFAI - FM, Minneapolis, Minn. (2001—2003)
Juror, Literary Fellowship Panel, Illinois Arts Council (2001)
National judge, Drama, Oregon Book Awards
(2000)
Book Prize Committee, Givens Foundation, Minneapolis (1999 —2002)
Mentor, Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis (spring 1999)
Alumnus interviewer for Yale University, Minneapolis (1999 —)
TEACHING & LECTURES
Critic-in-Residence, Macalester College (2023)
Speaker, panelist, moderator, poet, critic, etc., Yale University (2007, 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2022, including moderating a media panel and sharing poetry at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Afro-American Cultural Center at Yale in May 2022)
Friends Lecture, “A Life of Imagination,” Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Feb. 10, 2022
Critic- and journalist-in-Residence, Bethel University (2009)
BOARD & MANAGEMENT
President-elect and longtime board member, Yale Alumni Association of the Northwest (2016—), an organization that provides Yale alumni with volunteer opportunities for service, supports student internships and provides ways to enrich our community. Also arranges and hosts arts and cultural events, including with playwrights, directors and other artists at theaters such as the Guthrie, Penumbra, Children’s Theatre, et. al.
Trustee, Graywolf Press (2002-2008) Served on the board of one of the nation’s leading independent book publishers. Graywolf authors include Pulitzer winners Tracy K. Smith and Vijay Seshadri as well as Swedish Nobel laureate Thomas Tomas Tranströmer. Served in governance and in development, helping to secure two lead gifts for a capacity-building capital campaign.
Trustee, Ragdale Foundation, Lake Forest, Ill. (1994—2003) Served on the board of the picturesque artist colony in suburban Chicago. Helped with international exchanges of writers and artists, hosted panels, and held to a rigorous standard of governance. Also helped raise funds and give broader exposure to the organization.