Author: Mia P. Manansala and Gigi Pandian in conversation
Channel: San Francisco Public Library
Date: 2021-05-18

Mia P. Manansala and Gigi Pandian discuss the art of mystery writing, publishing and being part of Crime Writers of Color. 

Mia P. Manansala (she/her) is a writer and certified book coach from Chicago who loves books, baking and bad-ass women. She uses humor (and murder) to explore aspects of the Filipino diaspora, queerness and her millennial love for pop culture. Her debut novel, ARSENIC and ADOBO, comes out May 4, 2021 with Berkley/Penguin Random House.

Gigi Pandian, co-founder of Crime Writers of Color, is the child of cultural anthropologists from New Mexico and the southern tip of India. She spent her childhood being dragged around the world on their research trips and now lives outside San Francisco with her husband and a gargoyle who watches over the garden. Pandian writes the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mysteries, the Accidental Alchemist Mysteries and locked-room mystery short stories. Her debut novel, Artifact, was awarded a Malice Domestic Grant and named a “Best of 2012” Debut Novel by Suspense Magazine, and her fiction has received the Agatha, Anthony, Lefty and Derringer Awards. Pandian’s latest Accidental Alchemist novel, The Alchemist’s Illusion, was recently awarded the Anthony Award, and was shortlisted for the G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award given out at the Edgars. 

Purchase Arsenic and Adobo at Murder By The Book or The Book Table to receive a signed bookplate, bookmark and sticker, while supplies last. The Book Table will also offer personalized signed copies. 

Crime Writers of Color is a group of over 250 of today and tomorrow’s crime writers of color. It was founded by award winning authors Walter Mosley, Gigi Pandian and Kellye Garrett in June of 2018.