Richard Currey, James Grady, and Roach Brown DC Noir at The Writer's Center Sept. 21

"Writing for Veterans" instructor Richard Currey (Fatal Light, The Wars of Heaven) will join James Grady (Six Days of the Condor, Mad Dogs) and Roach Brown ("Christmas in Prison") in a reading from the Akashic Press collection DC Noir 2: The Classics. The event is from 2-4p.m. in the reading room at the Center.

This event is part of the Fall for the Book Festival sponsored by George Mason University.

Born in the small town of Parkersburg, West Virginia, Richard Currey is the author of Crossing Over: The Vietnam Stories, Fatal Light, The Wars of Heaven, and Lost Highway. A writer of exceptional range and versatility, Currey has published short fiction, poetry, essays, and investigative journalism. His fiction has been adapted for theatre, most recently in a new staging of Crossing Over: The Vietnam Stories now in workshop productions. The recipient of many awards, prizes, and fellowships, Currey's books have appeared in 11 languages, receiving critical comparisons to Joseph Conrad, Faulkner, Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Kerouac along the way. http://www.richardcurrey.com/index.html

James Grady is an Edgar nominee and winner of France's prestigious Grand Priz Du Roman Noir. He is the author of Six Days of the Condor (made into a film starring Robert Redford) and the recent Mad Dogs. Praise for Mad Dogs:"What a pleasure to be in the hands of a master storyteller. James Grady's MAD DOGS starts off with one of the best first sentences I've read in a long time and goes full-throttle, pedal-to-the-floor right up until the final page. A great, great read."Dennis Lehane, MYSTIC RIVER"MAD DOGS is the literary equivalent of a supercharged Hemi, a rock-and-roll road novel that roars out of the gate and never slows pace. James Grady, the king of the modern espionage thriller, is back with a vengeance."George Pelecanos, novelist and producer for THE WIRE

Rhozier “Roach” Brown, while serving a life sentence for murder, founded the Inner Voices, a drama troupe that was allowed out of prison more than eight hundred times to perform their brand of social drama. Largely as a result of the group’s success, President Gerald Ford commuted Brown’s sentence to immediate parole. The play Group Work was nominated for three television Emmy Awards and won Best Social Film at the New York Film Festival. A television documentary titled Roach was created about his life story. Later, he worked as a special assistant to Mayor Marion Barry for offender affairs and has been active in endeavors dealing with prisoners and former prisoners, both as the director of community-based programs and as a political activist. Brown played a key role in getting legislation passed that gave ex-offenders the right to vote in D.C. elections. He has also worked as a television and film producer.