Dana Shawn Stevens (born June 30, 1966)[citation needed] is an American film critic who writes for Slate.

[7][8] She graduated from Vassar College and attained a doctorate in comparative literature from UC Berkeley in 2001 with a dissertation on Fernando Pessoa: A Local Habitation and a Name: Heteronymy and Nationalism in the works of Fernando Pessoa.

She joined Slate in mid-2003, writing the magazine's Surfergirl column on television and pop-culture.

[9] Before joining Slate she wrote under the pseudonym "Liz Penn" on her own (now-defunct) website/blog called the High Sign.

[6] She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post Book World, Bookforum, and The Atlantic[9] and has appeared on several occasions on Charlie Rose and The Brian Lehrer Show.