Chester Himes

Chester Himes (1909–1984) was known for his hard-boiled crime fiction, most notably the nine novels in his Harlem Detective series. In addition to his crime fiction, he strongly criticized racism in America in novels like If He Hollers Let Him Go and Lonely Crusade. Born in Missouri and settling in Ohio, he began writing and publishing short stories in prison; they started to appear in Esquire by 1934. In the 1950s, he moved to Paris, where he won France’s Grand Prix de Littérature Policière in 1958.