South Central Noir

Gary Phillips has published novels, comics, and short stories, and edited numerous anthologies. Violent Spring, first published in 1994, was named one of the essential crime novels of Los Angeles. Culprits, a linked anthology he coedited, has been optioned as a British miniseries, and he was a staff writer on FX’s Snowfall about crack and the CIA in 1980s South Central, where he grew up.

Eric Stone is the author of the Ray Sharp series of detective thrillers set in Asia and based on stories he covered during many years of working as a journalist. He also wrote Wrong Side of the Wall, a biography of Ralph “Blackie” Schwamb, the greatest prison baseball player of all time, for which he took a very deep dive into the history and culture of Central Avenue in South Central Los Angeles during the 1940s.

Jervey Tervalon was born in New Orleans, raised in Los Angeles, and got his MFA in creative writing from UC, Irvine. He is the author of six books including Understand This, for which he won the Quality Paperback Book Club’s New Voices Award. Currently he is the executive director of Literature for Life, an educational advocacy organization, and creative director of the Pasadena LitFest. His latest novel is Monster’s Chef.

Jeri Westerson, an LA native, writes the acclaimed Crispin Guest medieval noir series, two urban fantasy series, and a gaslamp fantasy-steampunk series. Her medieval mysteries have garnered thirteen award nominations, from the Agatha to the Shamus. Westerson has served as president of the Southern California chapter of the Mystery Writers of America, and president and VP of Sisters in Crime Orange County and Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles.

Désirée Zamorano, a native of Los Angeles, is the author of the highly acclaimed literary novel The Amado Women. An award-winning and Pushcart Prize — nominated short story writer, her work is often an exploration of issues of invisibility, injustice, and inequity. A selection of her writing can be found in publications from Akashic Books, Catapult, and Pen + Brush, and in Cultural Weekly and the Kenyon Review. She is a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Review of Books.