Santi Elijah Holley has been a journalist, essayist, critic, and biographer for over ten years. His work explores the intersection of art, culture, race, and politics, and he has contributed to such national and international outlets as The Guardian, The Atlantic, National Geographic, NPR, The New Republic, The Economist, The Washington Post, and Time. He is the first-place recipient of a 2022 National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award, presented by the Los Angeles Press Club; a 2020 PEN America grant; the 2019 Robert B. Silvers grant for Work in Progress; and the 2017 Oregon Literary Fellowship for nonfiction, awarded by Literary Arts.

He has appeared on NPR’s “Fresh Air” and “All Things Considered,” Al-Jazeera’s “The Take,” CBC’s “Front Burner,” C-SPAN’s “BookTV,” and many other radio and television programs and podcasts.

His first book, Murder Ballads, a study of the English and American folk ballad tradition, was published in November 2020 by Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 music book series. His second book, An Amerikan Family: The Shakurs and the Nation They Created, was published in May 2023 by Mariner Books. An Amerikan Family was selected as a New York Times Editors’ Pick, an Amazon Editors’ Pick for Best History, an NPR selection for “Books We Love,” a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year, and longlisted for the 2024 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.

He lives in Los Angeles.

CONTACT: santi@santielijahholley.com

AGENT REPRESENTATION: Kerry Sparks (Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency) Ksparks@lgrliterary.com