Sonay Hoffman was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Growing up, books were some of her best friends. Sonay attended California State University, Long Beach with a major in Theatre Arts, after which she landed an internship with David E. Kelley Productions that led her into the world of TV production. On Gray’s Anatomy, she worked as post production assistant and as Shonda Rhimes’ assistant before landing her first staff writing job on Private Practice. In 2014, Sonay landed one of the coveted spots in the Fox Writers Intensive. Sonay is currently a Producer on ABC’s critically acclaimed show American Crime, created by John Ridley.

Hannah Crafts (the pen name of Hannah Bond) was an African-American writer who escaped from slavery in North Carolina in the late 1850’s. She wrote The Bondwoman’s Narrative by Hannah Crafts, the first novel written by an African-American woman, the only known novel by a fugitive slave woman. The story was published in 2002 for the first time and rapidly became a bestseller.