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About |
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About FOCH
The Friends of Chester Himes is a non-profit volunteer organization that has organized the Annual Chester Himes Black Mystery Conference and Award program for the past ten years. The organization was established by Jan Faulkner under the auspices of the Oakland Museum of California’s Education Department’s Education and History Guild.
In 1994, Ms. Faulkner saw a need to educate the public about the extensive contributions African Americans have made in the literary world and specifically the mystery genre. She also wanted to create a vehicle for authors to be accessible to readers and fans.
FOCH awards a writing prize for the best mystery short story written by students attending Oakland high schools as well as the Chester Himes Award presented to a published African American mystery writer.
FOCH continues to develop ideas and programing to esteem and promote the Black mystery writer and to support all students with their goal of becoming writers. FOCH also has plans to one day expand the writing contest to include senior citizens in the Bay Area.
