"I do think you write very well."
-John Gardiner
1994 O. Henry Award 2nd Prize;
Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Writers Award
THE TRUTH.
Born near the beginning of the New Millenium, Daniel Duca has spent most of his life in the rural countryside of Fauquier County, Virginia. He graduated from Fauquier High School in 2018 before attending Christendom College. There, he played four years of varsity soccer, mostly stayed out of trouble, and began honing his first love: writing. He helped establish a local magazine, co-wrote a mystery dinner-theater production, and completed the first draft of his debut novel, When the Days Were Few. He graduated in 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy.
While in college, Duca traveled extensively. He went on a mission trip to Lima, Peru; lived for extended periods in Los Angeles, California; and studied abroad in Donegal, Ireland, and Rome, Italy. After graduating, he moved to Washington, D.C., for a journalism internship and worked nights as a bartender to make ends meet. After several months in the nation’s capital, an opportunity arose for him to transition from journalism to education. He accepted a position as a high school history teacher and soccer coach at a private school in Northern Virginia.
In early 2023, Duca founded Duca Bar Company, a luxury private-event bartending company. He also spent seven months bartending at The Inn at Little Washington, then a three-Michelin-star restaurant, and accepted a position coaching collegiate soccer. During this period, he published a short story and contributed regularly to Warrenton Lifestyle.
In 2025, Duca accepted a position teaching literature at a public high school in Nokesville, Virginia. That summer, he lived in Puerto Rico, where he completed his second full manuscript, Tax the Poor. Today, he continues to teach high school literature, operate his bartending business, and coach college soccer while living and writing in Fauquier County. His next novel is planned for publication in 2027.