Kem Nunn (born 1948) is a third-generation Californian novelist, surfer, and magazine and

television writer A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

who lives in southern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He has been described as "the inventor of ''surf-noir''" for his novels' dark themes, political overtones, and surf settings. He is the author of six novels, including his 1984 seminal debut surf novel ''

Tapping the Source ''Tapping the Source'' is a surf noir novel by Kem Nunn published in 1984. It is Nunn's debut novel and tells the story of a young man searching for his missing sister in the dark underbelly of California surf culture. It is widely considered ...

,'' which was a finalist for the National Book Award. ''Tapping The Source'' inspired the 1991 movie ''

Point Break ''Point Break'' is a 1991 American action film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by W. Peter Iliff. It stars Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Lori Petty and Gary Busey. The film's title refers to the surfing term " point break", where a ...

'', and its 2015 remake. Nunn's novel, ''Tijuana Straights'', received a ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize. Nunn collaborated with producer

David Milch David Sanford Milch (born March 23, 1945) is an American writer and producer of television series. He has created several television shows, including ABC's ''NYPD Blue'' (1993–2005), co-created with Steven Bochco, and HBO's '' Deadwood'' (200 ...

on the third and final season (2006) of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

Western drama series '' Deadwood''. Milch and Nunn co-created the HBO series ''

John from Cincinnati ''John from Cincinnati'' is an American drama television series, set against the surfing community of Imperial Beach, California. It aired on HBO from June 10 to August 12, 2007. Overview ''John from Cincinnati'' is the result of a collaborati ...

'', a surfing series set in Imperial Beach, California, which premiered on June 10, 2007. Nunn also wrote for the last three seasons of the television drama series, ''Sons of Anarchy.'' Nunn was a creator, executive producer, and head writer for the television series, '' Chance'', with Hugh Laurie, directed by Lenny Abrahamson. ''Chance'' was based on Nunn's novel by the same name. Nunn also spent time in the graduate programs in Creative Writing at Columbia and University of California, Irvine.

Biography

Kem Nunn grew up in Pomona and Northern California. He has written the novels ''Tapping the Source,'' ''Dogs of Winter'', ''Pomona Queen'', ''Unassigned Territory'', ''Tijuana Straits'', and ''Chance''. He received an MFA in creative writing from the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

. Nunn joined the crew of the

western drama '' Deadwood'' as a writer for the third and final season in 2006. The series was created by

and focused on a growing town in the American West. Nunn wrote the episode "Leviathan Smiles". He also wrote for season 5 of ''

Sons of Anarchy ''Sons of Anarchy'' is an American Action film, action crime drama television series created by Kurt Sutter for FX (TV channel), FX. Originally aired from September 3, 2008, to December 9, 2014, ''Sons of Anarchy'' follows the lives of a close-k ...

''.

Bibliography

* ''

'' (1984) was a finalist for the National Book Award. * ''Unassigned Territory'' (1986) * ''Pomona Queen'' (1992) * ''The Dogs of Winter'' (1997) * ''Tijuana Straits'' (2004)