// Workers AI · dad joke modeIs Lou Mathews good at numbers? He's a great add-ition.
Lou Mathews is an American writer based in Los Angeles. He was born in Glendale, California, earned his B.A. degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1973, and his M.F.A. from Vermont College in 1987.[1] His novel, L.A. Breakdown (1999), was noted by the Los Angeles Times as a "Best Book" of 1999.[2] L.A. Breakdown is a novel describing the street racing scene in Los Angeles circa 1967.[3] His novel Shaky Town[4] was published in 2021. His novel Hollywoodski[5] was published in 2025.
Fiction
[edit]His short stories have been published in and appeared in anthologies such as The Pushcart Prize XV, The Pushcart Prize Anthology, The Best of the Pushcart Prize, L.A. Shorts, Love Stories for the Rest of Us and The Gotham Writers' Workshop Fiction.[6]
Nonfiction and Journalism
[edit]His nonfiction has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The L.A. Reader, L.A. Weekly, Mother Jones, Tin House and L.A. Style. For eight years at L.A. Style, Mathews was a contributing editor and also a restaurant reviewer. He currently teaches fiction writing and literature at the UCLA Extension Writer's Program, where he was named "Teacher of the Year" in 2002.[7]
Short Plays & Films
[edit]Among the short plays that he has written and that have been produced include Rancho Alisos, A Curse on Chavez Ravine, You Did Some Good Work Once, Jaws of Life and a radio play, Captain Manners.[8] The Duke's Development, his first full-length play, was a second prize winner in the 2000 National Repertory Theatre Foundations National Playwriting Contest.
A short film directed by Dora Pena based on one of his short stories, Crazy Life premiered at the Barcelona Film Festival.[9]
Awards
[edit]He has received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction, a California Arts Council Fiction Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, and a Katherine Anne Porter Prize.[10] Lou Mathews is one of eight recipients of the UCLA Extension Distinguished Instructor Award.[11]
References
[edit]- ↑ "Mathews, Lou 1946– (Contemporary Writers)". Encyclopedia.com. 2009. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
- ↑ "Lou Mathews, "The Garlic Eater" failbetter.com". www.failbetter.com. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
- ↑ Mathews, Lou (1999). L.A. Breakdown. ISBN 0947993800.
- ↑ Mathews, Lou (2021). Shaky town : a novel. [United States]. ISBN 978-1-7353038-0-2. OCLC 1263185175.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ↑ "Hollywoodski". Tiger Van Books. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
- ↑ supra, n.1
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Crazy Life (Video 2005) - IMDb, retrieved September 14, 2021
- ↑ Lou Mathews, UCLA Extension Writers' Program Biography
- ↑ "Top Teachers Honored at 2018 Distinguished Instructor Awards – For Our Instructors". December 12, 2019. Archived from the original on December 12, 2019. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
External links
[edit]- Lou Mathews Biography, UCLA Writer's Program
- "Garlic Eater" by Lou Mathews, at failbetter.com
- L.A. Breakdown by Lou Mathews at Amazon
- Shaky Town at Tiger Van Books
- New England Review interview with Lou Mathews
- Chicago Tribune, Author and TV showrunner Jim Gavin started a publishing company that so far has published a single book: 'Shaky Town'
- Writer's Digest, How to Tie a Collection of Short Stories Together in a Cohesive Book
- L.A. Times Forty years and counting, Lou Mathews knows a tale or two about ‘Hollywoodski’
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