Ovation

Walter Mosley

Through his novels, author Walter Mosley recreates the history and social attitudes of black Americans in the aftermath of World War II. Best known for the detective series featuring Easy Rawlins, Mosely takes us from the 1940s through the 1960s of South Central Los Angeles, introducing characters who negotiate their way through racism, crime and social upheaval. Mosely was born in Los Angeles in 1952. His father was African American, and his mother of Eastern European Jewish descent. Mosely worked as a computer programmer for a number of years, before enrolling in a creative writing program at City College in New York during the mid-1980s. His first detective novel, Devil in a Blue Dress, was published by W.W. Norton in 1990, and Mosely subsequently dedicated himself full-time to writing. In addition to the Easy Rawlins series, Mosely has branched out into science fiction (Blue Light, 1998), and social commentary (Workin’ the Chain Gang: Shaking Off the Dead Hand of History, 2000).