Lou Mathews

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

LOU MATHEWS has written seven books and published three of them, Just Like James and L.A. Breakdown, which was a Los Angeles Times Best Book, and Shaky Town. A new novel, Hollywoodski will be published in 2022-23. He has taught in UCLA Extension’s acclaimed creative writing program since 1989. His stories have been published in ZZZYVYA, New England Review, Short Story, Black Clock, and more than forty other literary magazines. His short stories are used in two textbook series Portales and Gotham Writer’s Workshop Fiction Gallery and have been widely anthologized, most recently in Paperback L.A.. Mathews worked his way through UC Santa Cruz as a gas station attendant and mechanic and continued working as a mechanic until he was 39, when he began to make a living as a free-lance journalist. He is also a playwright, notorious home cook and food writer, and was a restaurant reviewer for seven years and 43 pounds. He has received a Pushcart Prize, Two Pushcart Special Mentions and a Katherine Anne Porter Prize, as well as California Arts Commission and NEA Fiction fellowships, and is a recipient of the UCLA Extension Teacher of the Year and Outstanding Instructor awards.

A recent interview from the New England Review can be found here: https://www.nereview.com/2021/08/09/unsuitable-for-literature-an-exchange-with-ner-author-lou-mathews/

An excerpt from Shaky Town published on Lit Hub can be found here: https://lithub.com/shaky-town/