Leonard Chang

Leonard Chang was born in Harlem, NY, and grew up on Long Island, where he attended the public schools in Merrick. After high school, Leonard studied at Dartmouth College, interned with the Peace Corps in Kingston, Jamaica, and continued his studies in Philosophy at Harvard University, where he graduated with honors.

He attended the graduate creative writing program at the University of California at Irvine, and received his Master's of Fine Arts. His first novel, entitled The Fruit 'N Food, sold while he was still in graduate school, won the Black Heron Press Award for Social Fiction, and is now taught at universities around the world. His next novel, Dispatches from the Cold, won a San Francisco Bay Guardian Goldie Award for Literature. He is also the author of a popular and critically-acclaimed noir trilogy, which includes Over the Shoulder (HarperCollins), Underkill (St. Martin's) and Fade to Clear (St. Martin's). His other novels include Crossings, Triplines, and The Lockpicker. His fiction have been translated into French, Japanese and Korean, and are regularly studied in literature, sociology and theology courses throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. Recently the U.S. Consulate in Berlin sponsored his multi-city lecture/reading tour of Germany.

In addition to novels, he writes short stories, essays, screenplays and TV. He was a Visiting Distinguished Writer at Mills College, and a faculty member at Antioch University's MFA Program. He lives in Southcentral Los Angeles, and was most recently a writer and Executive Producer for the TV drama Snowfall, on FX.