Antonio Foncillas
Staff Writer

Crime novelist Paula Woods, winner of this year’s Moseley Fellowship, read from her latest mystery novel at Pomona College in front of roughly 25 faculty members, students and community members April 20 as part of the college’s literary series.

The Moseley Fellowship, awarded each year by Pomona College, was created five years ago to support efforts of the English department to improve student writing. Woods is teaching an advanced creative writing course at Pomona, titled “Mean Streets: Writing and Reading Mystery Fiction.”

The Moseley Fellowship is awarded on a rotating genre basis. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry and screenwriting are the genres of the writers hired to teach each year, according to Barbara Clonts, the academic department coordinator for the English and classics department at Pomona College.

During her presentation, Woods spoke about her personal life as well as her professional life, including her past experiences with reading. Woods described her reading tastes as being “eclectic and unorthodox.”

“I began reading at an early age – Agatha Christie when I was seven and James Bond when I was nine,” Woods said. “Later, in my Shakespeare class, while I loved ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ I preferred ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Hamlet.’”

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Woods told her audience that being an only child brought a different perspective to her life. Woods said she loved reading so much that she read everything she found.

“When I had read everything we had in the house, I used to sneak into my parents’ bedroom to read the books they had on their furniture by the bed,” Woods said.

Woods said her love of reading continued as she got older, and she graduated with an B.A. in English from the University of Southern California.

Before her presentation, Woods discussed her concerns about student writers, especially those learning to write mysteries.

“I lived through the Watts riots,” Woods said. “I had that experience, but crime was still something alien.”

Woods went on to say that mystery and crime writers have to deal with different emotions than writers of other genres.

“Fear is something interesting,” Woods said. “I think it’s interesting that mystery writers But we have to get over our fears to put our thoughts down on paper.”

Woods spoke of fear not only in terms of the often dark themes of mystery and crime novels, but also the fears that writers have over the success of their books. As a professor at Pomona College, Woods said she is using her fellowship as an opportunity to encourage students to cross barriers in life.

Valorie Thomas, associate professor in English and black studies at Pomona College, introduced Woods to the audience.

“We were looking for someone with some reputation, and also someone who would want to work and to be involved,” Thomas said. “I think it is important that Paula Woods is an African-American woman writer. It gives us the representation, it brings a kind of different conversation and different realities.”

Many of those who attended the reading had not read Woods’ novels, but most knew who she was.

Tom Yaley, a junior at Pomona College, said he came to the event to learn more about Woods and her writing.

“I like all types of books, but I have not read any by [Woods],” Yaley said.
Laura Hoopes, a biology professor at Pomona College, had heard of Woods’ novels and said she wanted to know more about the author.

“I have not read any of her books, but I know she bases them in Los Angeles and that they are about a black woman detective,” Hoopes said. “It seems to be really interesting.”

Antonio Foncillas can be reached at bokeron_11@hotmail.com.