Peter Houlahan joins Byrd's Books for an author talk

Please join us for an author talk and presentation from author Peter Houlahan on Tuesday September 24th as we celebrate his new book, Reap the Whirlwind: Violence, Race, Justice, and the Story of Sagon Penn. Registration suggested due to space.

About the book: March 31, 1985. Two white patrol officers in search of a gang member followed a pickup truck carrying seven young Black men up a dirt driveway in the Encanto neighborhood of Southeastern San Diego. Minutes later, gunshots rang out, and the truck's driver, Sagon Penn, fled the scene in an officer's patrol car. The incident stunned the city. What followed would change it forever.

PETER HOULAHAN is an author, freelance writer, and book review contributor. His work has appeared in CrimeReads, Police1, L.A. Magazine, Criminal Element, Hearst Newspapers, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Daily Mirror, and Southern California Newspaper Group. His first book “Norco ’80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History” was released in 2019 and was a finalist for the Edgar Award, Hammett Prize, and Macavity Award. The book has been chosen as a New York Times “Summer Pick,” NPR “Favorite Book of 2019,” Wall Street Journal “Readers Pick,” Amazon “Best Book,” and Junior Library Guild “Gold Standard Selection.” Norco ‘80 has been produced as a multi-episode podcast by NPR and optioned for film. His second nonfiction book, "Reap the Whirlwind: Violence, Race, Justice and the Story of Sagon Penn" received prestigious starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly and Booklist and is an Amazon “Editor’s Pick" for nonfiction. It will be released on July 23, 2024. Houlahan lives and works as an emergency medical technician in Fairfield County, Connecticut.