George Pelecanos was born in Washington, D.C. in 1957 and graduated from the University of Maryland at College Park. After having a string of menial jobs, he published his first novel, A Firing Offense, in 1992. His other works include Nick's Trip, Shoedog, King Suckerman, Right as Rain, Hard Revolution, Drama City, The Night Gardener, and The Turnaround. He has received numerous awards including the Raymond Chandler award in Italy, the Falcon award in Japan, and the Grand Prix Du Roman Noir in France. Hell to Pay and Soul Circus were awarded the 2003 and 2004 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. He has served as producer on the feature films Caught (1996), Whatever (1998) and BlackMale (1999). He was a producer, writer, and story editor for the HBO series, The Wire, which won the Peabody Award and the AFI Award. He was also a writer on the HBO World War II miniseries The Pacific.
