Eric Jerome Dickey was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and attended the University of Memphis (the former Memphis State), where he pledged Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and earned a degree in computer system technology. In 1983, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in engineering.
After landing a job in the aerospace industry working as a software developer, Dickey's artistic talents surfaced, inspiring him to become an actor and a stand-up comedian. He soon began working the local and national comedy circuit. In the early 1990s the aerospace industry took a downward turn and Dickey found himself "downsized," but took this as an opportunity to embark on a writing career.
Having written several scripts for his personal comedy act, Dickey started writing poetry and short stories. He joined the IBWA (International Black Writers and Artists), participated in their development workshops, and became a recipient of the IBWA SEED Scholarship to attend UCLA's creative writing classes. In 1994 his first published short story, "Thirteen," appeared in the IBWA's River Crossing, Voices of the Diaspora: An Anthology of the International Black Experience. A second short story, "Days Gone By," was published in the magazine A Place to Enter.
With those successes behind him, Dickey decided to fine-tune some of his earlier work and developed a screenplay called Cappuccino. Cappuccino was directed and produced by Craig Ross Jr. and appeared in coffeehouses around the Los Angeles area. In February 1998, Cappuccino made its local debut during the Pan African Film Festival at the Magic Johnson Theater in Los Angeles and is currently on the film festival circuit.
Dickey's book-signing tours for Sister, Sister, Friends and Lovers, and Milk in My Coffee took him coast to coast and helped propel these novels to No. 1 on the Blackboard bestsellers List. His books have been featured in many publications, including Essence magazine and USA Today, and have appeared on the bestseller lists of The Los Angeles Times, Blackboard, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. Dickey has appeared as a guest on many television shows, including BET's Our Voices and CNN's Sunday Morning Live.
Author biography courtesy of Penguin Group (USA).
