Six San Quentin inmates defeated a group of professional writers in a “Literary Throwdown” competition recently.
The event, hosted by authors Keith and Kent Zimmerman, in association with Litquake. The Zimmerman brothers, authors of more than 15 books, including best-selling memoirs with the Sex Pistols and the Hell’s Angels, have taught a weekly creative writing class at San Quentin’s H-Unit since 2003.
Six authors competed with inmate writers in a write-off, which was judged by three Hollywood authors/screenwriters. The Litquake event is the largest nonprofit literary festival on the West Coast.
It enlisted the likes of Alan Black, Jack Boulware, David Corbett, Joe Loya, Anne N. Marino and Bucky Sinister.
Judges included novelist/screenwriter/director Michael Tolkin and Noah and Logan Miller.
Regular attendees of “Finding Your Voice on the Page,” the Zimmerman’s writing workshop, consisting of 25-30 inmate authors, competed with the guests in a timed writing competition. The entries were then judged and the best six from each group were read aloud, with the winning entrants announced on June 18.
The six finalists and winners , inmates representing San Quentin, were Earl Banks, Tim Dufore, Tim Gordon, Mark LeMelle, Delbert Lennox and Buckshot Maples.