Odie Hawkins has a daily ritual, befitting the author of 38 novels, numerous short story collections and essays, and groundbreaking scripts for television, film, and radio.
“It’s an old thing I started doing … I forget when,” says Hawkins, 87. “When I start my day off and my feet hit the floor, I clap my hands and call out loud, ‘Showtime!’”
“I get to have the first-row seat, all day long,” says Zola Salena-Hawkins, his wife of 27 years. “I never know what the day will be.”
“We know it’s not going to be ordinary,” chimes in her husband.
With settings ranging from the quadroon balls of 18th Century New Orleans to an account of literary Blaxploitation by a fictional publishing house, Hawkins’ works are far from ordinary in any genre. He was recently honored for lifetime achievement – so far – celebrating his work in nurturing Los Angeles writers and other contributions to the community on May 31 at the AC Bilbrew Library. The event was hosted by the Bilbrew Writers’ Workshop and the Friends of AC Bilbrew Library, and Hawkins was awarded a proclamation from Supervisor Holly Mitchell.
A native of Chicago, Hawkins was one of the original members of the Watts Writers Workshop, founded in the wake of the Watts Rebellion in 1965 by Hollywood screenwriter Budd Schulberg. Hawkins was also a member of the Open Door Program that was created by the Writers Guild.
of America, West, Inc. Prominent writers and screenwriters of the time, including Louise Meriwether, John W. Bloch, Robert Lewin, Harlan Ellison, and Schulberg, served as instructors.
Hawkins’ first novel, “Ghetto Sketches,” was published in 1972 and has become required reading at two universities. He takes pride in being the originator of the Pan-African Occult genre represented in his books, “The Snake, 20/20,” “Shackles Across Time,” and “The Snake Doctor.”
Hawkins’ literary journey for the last six decades has included paying it forward, teaching creative writing to high school students and adults, as well as to inmates at the California Institution for Men in Chino and San Quentin, as well as the Bilbrew Writers’ Workshop, which he established in 2013.
Charles Chatmon, director of the Bilbrew Writers Workshop, says that the group is a “spiritual relative” of the Watts Writers Workshop. Their first anthology, “Looking Back… Stories of Resilience” (https://bit.ly/4dIUzQt ) includes stories by Hawkins and Salena-Hawkins.
“We’re trying to help other folks in the community who want to be writers,” says Chatmon, a journalist and novelist who leads workshops on getting published. “We’re really glad that Odie is our inspirational leader because he has done so much in his long career. Odie’s story will help inspire you to be the best.”
In 1980, Hawkins collaborated with “Roots” creator Alex Haley to co-write the teleplay, “The Older Sister,” an episode of Haley and Norman Lear’s series, “Palmerstown, U.S.A.” The episode went on to win an award from the NAACP. In the late 1970s, Hawkins also wrote 50 scripts for the program, “Sears Radio Theatre,” and has been involved in several television and film projects in Ghana.
Hawkins and Salena-Hawkins are both certified tai chi instructors at the Watts Towers Arts Center and several locations in their hometown of Long Beach. The couple have also created a YouTube series, “Moments in Time with Odie and Zola,” (https://bit.ly/4jytdO9) sharing their upbeat commentary on a variety of subjects, including Odie’s works, literature, and culture.
Hawkins also plays 11 instruments, including conga drums and the berimbau, a traditional Angolan stringed instrument used in the Afro-Brazilian martial art of capoeira, of which he is an instructor.
Hawkins is grateful for the guidance of three aunts who raised him in place of his teenaged mother and father, a thief whom he credits for keeping him out of jail, despite the systems past and present that disproportionately incarcerate people of color.
“He kept me out of jail by telling me, ‘Do anything you want to, but don’t get caught,’” recalls Hawkins. “I went to [teach in] San Quentin and it was like going to Harlem [or] Africa. All the people in the prison are Black and Brown people.
“Aunt Mary, Aunt Bessie, and Aunt Mamie, were the people who educated me about what I had to know as a young Black man growing up in America – ‘Be careful, because the police have carte blanche to shoot you.’ They were the people who helped me to survive.”
Hawkins considers his high school years as the beginning of his professional writing career.
“In 1952, that’s eons away… if you wanted to talk to [a] young lady, you’d drop her a romantic note,” he says.
“A friend of mine wanted to meet [a girl], and said, ‘I can’t write, what do I do?’ I said, ‘I’ll write you a note for her.’ He said to me, ‘How much do you charge?’ I said, ‘A dollar.’ I wrote the ordinary for a dollar; the extraordinary for two dollars; the exotique for three dollars; and the outrageous for four dollars.”
Hawkins’ latest project is what he calls an autobiographical and biographical “collage,” with the working title of “Old.” The book will address his own physical limitations and injuries – which he has successfully kept at bay with an active lifestyle – the perceptions of aging around the globe, and the American fixation with youth. Hawkins attributes his youthful ambition and longevity to his prolific career and deep connections to the community through fitness, music, and art.
“You don’t have time to think about how old you are until somebody says, ‘lifetime achievement,’” he quips.
For a video highlighting the life and work of Odie Hawkins, visit https://bit.ly/4kOdbRC
