"The Porchlight Storytelling Series has presented over a thousand storytellers in the past 17 years and Black is among the best we've seen. His work is perfectly crafted every time, delighting and astonishing the live audience with his incisive wit, dark humor, and an empath's knack for finding the crux of a story. A consummate pro and stunning talent."

Beth Lisick ~ New YorkTimes Best-selling author and co-founder of the Porchlight Reading Series

“Alan Black is a terrific writer”

Irvine Welsh, international best-selling author of Trainspotting

“The Scottish Larry David”

Publishers Weekly

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - An Excerpt

Read by Alan Black

Give me a shout if you’re interested in collaborating on writing and audio projects. You can also hire me for editing your writing by working with your voice in creating a knockout delivery for your story. I came to be a published writer by developing the spoken voice in tandem with my prose. It works! And it feels fucking great when you nail it. I’m also looking to collaborate with visual artists and illustrators.

I spent my working life as a bartender in bars and clubs, sets for observing our shared conditions. Time to write? Will it. I wrote during lulls behind the bar, in the backroom with the ice machine, on the barstool after everyone was gone until the sun came up. Will writing time into existence. The more you practice, the stronger you write. I spent many years working with incarcerated women and men in the prisons in Folsom, California. The students’ writing could be harrowing and devastating, written in the unique set of a prison. Over time, their prose released the voice within, and their prose strengthened. Whatever set you find yourself in, use it.

I penned a weekly soccer column for the San Francisco Chronicle for a while, I’ve been published in a bunch of outlets writing on a variety of subjects, became a book author, produced a music podcast Soundman Confidential, produced stage plays and mad cap events from raves to The Swearing Festival and blah blah blah. Producing things and trying new projects for the sheer pleasure of just doing it unlocks the voice and the words come afterwards.

You can contact me at alanblack02@gmail.