Afi Scruggs

Afi Scruggs is an award-winning writer/journalist and author who lives in Cleveland, Ohio. Her career started in 1983 as a freelancer in Richmond, Virginia. After that, she worked at newspapers in Washington, D.C., Jackson, Mississippi, and Dayton, Ohio, before settling in Cleveland.

Her articles and columns have appeared in the Washington Post, and on washingtonpost.com, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the U.S. edition of the Guardian, USA Today, and Essence magazine.  Her audio segments have been broadcast on American Public Media's “Marketplace Money,” WBUR’s “Only A Game,” and on local northeast Ohio NPR affiliates. 

She’s also written three books: “Jump Rope Magic,” published by Scholastic; a genealogical memoir, “Claiming Kin: Confronting the History of an African-American Family”; and an essay collection entitled “Beyond Stitch and Bitch: Reflections on Knitting and Life.”

Afi has a doctorate in Slavic linguistics from Brown University and a Bachelor of Arts in Russian from the University of Chicago. She’s also a prolific bass player.