All history is inevitably a trial; a trial in our conversations, our minds, in the way we see ourselves and each other. For me, they are my novels. I am a literary artist who is also a practicing criminal attorney in Los Angeles, and like millions of “caregivers of adults” worldwide, I became a caregiver overnight.

I used to be ashamed to admit I was an artist when I was in a room of my legal peers. And in the rooms of artists, I was ashamed to be a lawyer. I am not anymore.

Law and caring for others, color the way I see the world, my morality, my reasoning, empathy, and my novels. Through fictionalized historical facts, multidimensional characters, faith, and experience, my novels aim to resurrect the past and build a deeper understanding of American history and its connection to our present malady.

My creative work often draws from the psyche of my legal work—crimes, justifiable excuse, and its inequitable application—as well as social constructs, consequences, and Black history. In the spirit of great Black women novelists such as Toni Morrison and Octavia Butler, my work is a doorway, hoping to engage empathy through understanding and in this way, inspire our nation to move closer to a safer union for all.