Gary Phillips

Surviving the Literary Life, Tuesday, May 2 at 7:30pm, Altadena Library and Outrageous Literary Stories, Sunday, May 7 at 5:00pm, Mt. View Mausoleum

Son of a mechanic and a librarian, Gary Phillips draws on his experiences ranging from community activist, labor organizer, state director of a political action committee, to delivering dog cages in writing his tales of chicanery and malfeasance. Violent Spring, set in the aftermath of the Rodney King riots was recently named one of the essential crime novels of Los Angeles. His latest mystery is One-Shot Harry. He was also a staff writer on FX’s Snowfall about crack and the CIA in 1980s South Central where he grew up.

Books That Make a Difference: Native Son by Richard Wright and From the Twilight Zone by Rod Serling.