What writer do you think of when you think of Los Angeles or Orange County? What makes someone an L.A. or O.C. writer? … Héctor Tobar, [UCI associate professor of literary journalism and Chicano/Lation Studies]: I think of Bertolt Brecht and all his German exile friends. And Raymond Chandler, who invented a genre in L.A. And Luis Rodríguez and his wonderful memoir about gang life in the San Gabriel Valley. What makes a writer an L.A. writer? They write in Los Angeles! 

For the full story, please visit https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2022-04-14/can-an-l-a-writer-be-defined-we-asked-l-a-writers-to-debate-the-subject.