Lynell George is a Los Angeles-based journalist, essayist and author. She has had a long career in L.A. journalism as staff writer for both the Los Angeles Times and L.A. Weekly -- focusing on social issues, human behavior,  visual arts, music and literature. Her work has appeared in Oxford American,  Alta: Journal of California,  Sierra, The New York Times, Smithsonian, among other publications.  She is  the author of  No Crystal Stair: African Americans in the City of Angels (Verso/Doubleday), a collection of features and essays drawn from her reporting; After/Image: Los Angeles Outside the Frame. She won a 2017 GRAMMY for her liner notes Otis Redding Live at the Whisky A Go Go and is a 2020 recipient of  a Distinguished  Journalist award from the Society of Professional Journalists/Los Angeles. Her latest book, A Handful  of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler is  a finalist for a Hugo Award. It was published in 2020 by  Angel City Press.