Skerritt is a native of London, England, and grew up on the volcanic Caribbean island of Montserrat. He obtained his bachelor’s in journalism from Howard University and his master of liberal arts from Winthrop University. His 20-year newspaper journalism career included stops at Gannett Suburban (NY) Newspapers, Asbury Park (N.J) Press, Rock Hill (S.C) Herald and the St. Petersburg (Fla) Times. He has worked as a reporter, copy editor, assignment editor and, most recently, a columnist. In addition to teaching, he is an awardwinning short-story writer and essayist. His nonfiction has most recently been published in the St. Petersburg Times, theRoot.com, the Tallahassee Democrat and FlaVour Magazine. Ashamed to Die: Silence, Denial and the AIDS Epidemic (Lawrence Hill Books) is his first book.