Hailing from Oakland, California, Apollo Papafrangou is the author of the acclaimed novels Wings of Wax (Olive Leaf Editions, 2016) and We Grew Here (Nomadic/Black Lawrence Press, 2021).
He has written for HBO Films, which optioned the movie rights to his story The Fence (2000-2004). His fiction has appeared in ZYZZYVA magazine, Oakland Review, The Bookends Review, Sparkle & Blink, and the Simon & Schuster anthology, Trapped. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College.
Apollo attributes his passion for storytelling to being raised in a Greek-American household where the epics of his ancestors were combined with contemporary family lore. If he weren’t an author, Apollo would be a singer-songwriter under the moniker Greek Lightning, wooing audiences with stormy R&B ballads.
From the foreword to Apollo’s most recent novel, We Grew Here, fellow Oakland author Jess Mowry (Way Past Cool and Six Out Seven) writes:
“I first met Apollo when he was thirteen years old. I had received a letter from him, written on school binder paper and forwarded to me by my publisher, saying he’d read all my books and wanted to be a writer. I get many letters from people of all ages, but there was a seriousness and sophistication in Apollo’s that stood out from most others; something, perhaps, only a writer would recognize. He’d included a story he had written–also on binder paper–and it was clear this young man not only had real writing talent but was already skilled at putting it to use. He asked if we could meet and we arranged to do so the next day at Marcus Books here in Oakland. He arrived escorted by his mother, an artist and art teacher at the [junior high school] in Berkeley, which Apollo attended, a polite and articulate young man.”
Apollo Papafrangou lives in Oakland, CA.