Sumiko Saulson is a speculative fiction author whose focus is on horror and science-fiction, novelist, poet and writer of short stories and editorials, who writes the column "Writing While Black" for the San Francisco BayView (a National Black Paper) and also writes for Search Magazine. They are a native Californian, who spent their early childhood in Los Angeles, and lived in Hilo and Honolulu, Hawaii in their teen years. They have spent most of their adult life living in the San Francisco Bay Area. An early interest in writing and advanced reading skills eventually led to becoming a staff journalist on their high school paper, the Daily Bugle (McKinley High, Honolulu, HI) one of the nation's only four such daily High School papers at the time. By the time they moved to San Francisco at age 19, they had two self-published books of poetry and was a frequently published poet in local community newspapers and read poetry around town. They were profiled in a San Francisco Chronicle article about up-and-coming poets in the beatnik tradition. Over the years they have written numerous articles for local and community papers, non-profit and corporate newsletters, poetry and lyrics and novels. Winner of the HWA Scholarship from Hell (2016) BCC Voice "Reframing the Other" contest (2017), Mixy Award (2017), Afrosurrealist Writer Award (2018), HWA Diversity Grant (2020), Ladies of Horror Fiction Grant (2021). Sumiko has an AA in English from Berkeley City College. is the host of the SOMA Leather and LGBT Cultural District's "Erotic Storytelling Hour," and teaches courses at the Speculative Fiction Academy. Read more about this authorRead less about this author