Shay Youngblood, 64, a novelist and playwright who worked at UNT between 2014 and 2018, died June 11 in Peachtree City, Georgia. Her obituary in The New York Times credits her work with inspiring a generation of young Black women. At UNT, Youngblood was employed at the Career Center, the College of Visual Arts and Design, and the Department of Geography and the Environment. When she was named to the Dallas Observer’s list of 100 Dallas Creatives in 2015, she spoke about her “career advisor to creatives” day job: “Every day I help artists, writers and musicians plan their careers and help them transition from student to professional and prepare creatives to navigate the job market and learn the art of connecting (aka networking).” She earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Clark Atlanta University and later a master’s in creative writing at Brown University. Between degrees, she joined the Peace Corps as an agriculture information officer in Dominica, then got her start as a writer working at Charis Books, a feminist bookstore in Atlanta. She was raised by her grandmother, great-grandmother and their friends after her mother died. She made them the subjects of her first book, The Big Mama Stories, which was adapted into her first play, Shakin’ the Mess Outta Misery. Her novels include Soul Kiss and Black Girl in Paris, which is being developed as a feature film. The Times called it “a touchstone for many.” Her honors included a Pushcart Prize for fiction, NAACP theater awards and a fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts. In 2022 and 2023, she published the illustrated children’s books Mama’s Home and A Family Prayer. At her death she was working on a book about her mother.