Set against the vibrant backdrop of West Los Angeles during the 50s and 60s, Growing Up Harris tells the story of four siblings - a sister and three brothers - dealing with a mother, a well-known L.A. poet, who day by day was drinking and drugging herself to death; a loving father who was unable to turn the tide of tragedy; a grandmother whose solutions were offered in non sequitur proverbs; and a galaxy of cousins and friends who ran wild with them in their suburban neighborhood.

The descendants of Hollywood storytellers, each of the Harrises narrates their own childhood journey in this nonfiction book with a Rashomon-like effect.

Author Bios:

Brooke Harris Wolff spent years as an improv acting teacher, but most of her professional life has been devoted to writing. She was a screenwriter, working primarily for Disney, and now works as a senior copywriter at Disney Parks, Experiences and Products. In addition to writing, she produce The Last Broad Standing, an album in which she performed her original songs and recently got a distribution deal for a feature-length documentary she produced and directed, Eye of the Storm, starring Howard Storm and featuring Robin Williams. Currently, she is editing her crime novel, Killing Time in Beverly Hills, and producing an album of jazz/rock opera, These Are the Times, which she cowrote with composer Grant Johnson. She has a bachelor’s degree from St. John’s College.

Prior to becoming a professional TV writer and teacher, Geoff Harris worked as Vice-President of Story and Writer Development at NBC, assisting in the development of primetime TV shows in all formats, from comedies and dramas to movies and mini-series. Along with writing his own projects today, he also teaches screenwriting in a low residency MFA Program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He also mentors Latinx writers in the National Hispanic Coalition’s Series Scriptwriters Program, sponsored by Netflix, ABC-Disney, and NBC-Universal, among others. Under his tutelage, more than 50 writers have been staffed on series across all platforms-network, cable, premium cable, and streaming. Geoff holds two master’s degrees, one from Columbia University and the other from University of Notre Dame, and an undergraduate degree from St. John’s College.

James Harris found joy studying cultural and historical georgraphy in college at the University of Oregon, and earned a Master’s degree from the University of Chicago and a PhD from the University of Minnesota. He worked as a professor in that same area of study for decades, retiring in August 2020 as head of the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He’s written many articles and contributed to several textbooks on the subject. Now he is doing a different kind of writing, fiction. His first novel, The Falcon Trail, uses the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) as the backdrop for his murder mystery. He spent nearly a decade teaching at USAFA. Currently, he is writing the second volume in his series, The Limfjord Murders. The latter book is set in Aalborg, Denmark, where he spent a year teaching at Aalborg University, while on sabbatical. The third is in its infancy and is set in the Twin Cities at the University of Minnesota.

Jonathan Harris is the author of two poetry collections: The Wave That Did Not Break (afterword by David St. John) and Dream Drive. Named by the Huffington Post as one-of-five American poets to watch, he received a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from St. John’s College and an MFA in poetry from Pacific University. A former Peace Corps volunteer, as well as being an Associate Producer for the documentary The Eye of the Storm, Jonathan lives in the foothills of the Angeles National Forest.