About Persia

Persia Walker is the author of numerous novels and short stories of literary crime fiction. Her 1920s Harlem Renaissance titles include the standalone Harlem Redux (Simon & Schuster/NAL) and the entries in her Lanie Price series: Goodfellowe House, Black Orchid Blues, Backdrop to Murder, Dear Sister Dead, and Shards of Betrayal.

Her short fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, anthologies by the Mystery Writers of America and Crime Writers of Color, as well as a collection of paranormal tales, Wake Me When It's Over.

She discovered her passion for storytelling through the gritty allure of 1940s noir films—smoky bars, enigmatic characters, shadows thick with secrets. These cinematic gems set her on the path to becoming an author of historical crime fiction.

She is the granddaughter of Virginia sharecroppers and the only child of a determined single mother with a ninth-grade education. Walker grew up in New York City as a latchkey kid who often missed school because of asthma. A voracious reader, she went on to study at the original High School of Performing Arts and earned degrees from Swarthmore College and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

She worked as a news writer for The Associated Press in Washington DC and then for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Munich, where she resided for fifteen years. After returning to the United States, Walker joined the U.S. State Department in her mid-fifties and became a diplomat, serving in Brazil, Poland, and Washington, D.C. She is a breast cancer survivor. Her languages include French and fluent German.

She is a member of Crime Writers of Color, Mystery Writers of America, and the UK's Crime Writers' Association.

She is unagented.