Robert J. Hughes’ novel Late and Soon was published in late 2005, and his next, Seven Sisters, will be out soon. He is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, where he writes on the arts, philanthropy, and publishing. He lives in Manhattan now, but spent many merry hours as a youth raising a perfectly law-abiding ruckus with friends in the parish of St. Nicholas of Tolentine.
Marlon James was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1970. He graduated from the University of the West Indies in 1991 with a degree in literature. His debut novel, John Crow’s Devil, a New York Times Editors’ Choice, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Commonwealth Writers Prize. James teaches creative writing and literature at Macalester College, St. Paul. He lives in Kingston, Jamaica.
Sandra Kitt’s novel The Color of Love, released in 1995, was optioned by HBO and Lifetime. She has been nominated for an NAACP Image Award in Fiction. A native of New York, her artwork is displayed in the African American Museum of Art in Los Angeles. She lives in Riverdale, the Bronx.
Rita Lakin grew up in the East Bronx on Elder Avenue. She attended Hunter College on the Bronx campus and then worked in Los Angeles as a writer/producer in television for twenty-five years. Now she is happily writing mysteries about a group of geriatric lady P.I.’s, including Getting Old Is Murder, Getting Old Is the Best Revenge, and Getting Old Is Criminal.
Miles Marshall Lewis moved northeast to Co-op City from Highbridge at the age of four. In the 1990s he worked as an editor at Vibe and XXL magazines, interviewing Afrika Bambaataa, Nas, Rakim, and many others. Author of Scars of the Soul Are Why Kids Wear Bandages When They Don’t Have Bruises and There’s a Riot Goin’ On, Lewis is also founder of Bronx Biannual literary journal. He lives in Paris, France.
Patrick W. Picciarelli, a former lieutenant with the NYPD, is the author of Mala Femina: A Woman’s Life as the Daughter of a Don, among other crime-related books. His affection for the Bronx goes way back, and he fondly recalls his uncles telling him that there is no Mafia as they sipped red wine in Dominic’s on Arthur Avenue, smoked Italian stinkers, and lamented the passing of Fat Tony Boombatz, who accidentally suflocated in the trunk of a Cadillac.
Abraham Rodriguez, Jr. was born and raised in the South Bronx. His first book, The Boy without a Flag, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His novel Spidertown won a 1995 American Book Award and was optioned by Columbia Pictures. His latest novel, The Buddha Book, was published by Picador in 2001. He currently lives in Berlin, Germany, where he is immersed in the local music scene.
S.J. Rozan was born and raised in the Bronx. She is the author of eight books in the Lydia Chin/Bill Smith series and the standalones Absent Friends and In This Rain. Her work has won the Edgar, Shamus, Anthony, Nero, and Macavity awards. An architect by training, she worked on the new 41st Precinct, which replaces Fort Apache. Her upcoming novel is The Shanghai Moon.
Steven Torres was born and raised in the Bronx. A graduate of Stuyvesant High School, Hunter College, and the City University of New York Graduate Center, he is also the author of the Precinct Puerto Rico series of novels for St. Martin’s Press. The Concrete Maze is his fifth novel and the first he has set in New York City. For more information, visit www.steventorres.com.
Joseph Wallace was born in Brooklyn, but his favorite place in New York City was the Bronx Zoo, especially on cold winter days when the grounds were deserted, the animals were alert and hungry, and something unexpected always seemed about to happen. He is the author of many nonfiction books and magazine articles (including several about the zoo), and is a contributor to the crime anthologies Hard-Boiled Brooklyn and Baltimore Noir.