Desmond Hall is a Jamaican born author whose debut YA novel, YOUR CORNER DARK, has been described as American Street meets Long Way Down. It’s a searing and gritty book that takes an unflinching look at the harsh realities of gang life in Jamaica, and how far a teen is willing to go for family. The book confronts police brutality, colorism, gang culture and political deception.

He graduated Marquette University with a BA in Journalism and was selected for the “Who’s Who of American College Students.”

He’s written and directed an HBO feature movie, “A Day in Black and White” which was nominated for the Gordon Parks Award.  He’s also written and directed a full-length stage play, “Stockholm, Brooklyn” that won the Audience Award at the Downtown Theater Festival at the Cherry Lane theater. The play was also picked for the Public Theater’s New Works Series. 

For two years, he worked as a high school Biology and English teacher in Brooklyn, NY. In this period of his life he also counseled teenage ex-cons after their release from Rikers Island Correctional Institution.

As an advertising creative director, he’s written many TV campaigns, two Superbowl commercials and won multiple awards while running the creative side of Spike Lee’s advertising agency.

While working in the advertising and film industry he’s served on the board of the Partnership for a Drug Free Kids, the Advertising Council, judged the One Show, the Addys, and the NYC Downtown Film Festival. He’s also been named one of Variety magazine’s Top 50 Creatives to Watch.

He attended Grubstreet’s Novel Incubator, a yearlong MFA-level course where he workshopped YOUR CORNER DARK, a novel inspired by the murder of his uncle back in Jamaica.

You can learn more about Desmond at his website.