About the Author

Sheerly Avni is a San Francisco based film and culture writer. A former editor of Salon.com, her work also has appeared in The Chicago Sun-Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Toronto Star, San Francisco Magazine, AlterNet, and of course, Truthdig. Her book about Northern California film directors, "Cinema by the Bay," will be available in June.

She is also a workshop facilitator and editor at The Beat Within, a weekly publication by and for incarcerated youth.