S.A. Cosby and More– Part 2 of 2

This is part two of a two-part post on the 2026 Bay to Ocean Writers’ Conference. Click here to read part one.

Camacho published Cosby’s first novel, My Darkest Prayer in 2019. Since 2019, Flatiron Press, an imprint of Macmillan, published four subsequent novels. Cosby has been included twice on former President Barack Obama’s Summer Reading List (2023 and 2024), and his novel All the Sinners Bleed is in development as a mini-series for Netflix, a project backed by Steven Spielberg and the Obamas.

Cosby eased into the interview wearing his signature jeans, t-shirt, and button-down, and won-over conference attendees with his soft-spoken down-to-earth style. He described his rural eastern Virginia upbringing with humor and a genuine appreciation for the region’s people and culture, both featured in his writing. Evidence for the value of “write what you know.”

Cosby grew up poor, the son of a teaching assistant and waterman, and his parents separated when he was a child. His mother possessed a physical disability, which led to him, his older brother, and his mother moving in with his grandmother. His father lived a few miles “up the road.” Cosby’s family may have struggled financially, but they possessed an invaluable love for books and storytelling. His mother read history and biographies, his grandmother romances, his aunt horror, and his uncle crime. Cosby recalled once questioning his uncle regarding the truth of his stories. His uncle replied, “It may not be true, but it should be.”

Listening to Cosby describe this part of his life caused me to reflect on reading’s importance in the shaping of a writer’s storytelling, and reminded me of storytelling’s power, something I had experienced first-hand in my teaching career. A high school teacher, Jeff Bohm, recognized Cosby’s talent, encouraged him to pursue a career of words, and gifted him two books, Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style and a collection of works by William Shakespeare. His teacher told him, “One will teach you how to write and the other will teach you why to write.”

This small bit of exposure landed Cosby an agent for his first novel, My Darkest Prayer, and he persevered sixty-three rejections before his agent dropped Cosby and stated, in Cosby’s words, “Your particular skill set is not marketable.” Cosby later attended a Washington D.C. reading event where he met Comacho, the owner of a small independent publishing firm. Comacho published My Darkest Prayer providing Cosby with an advance of $500, along with an explanation as to what “advance on royalties” meant. Cosby’s candid and generous stories of struggle, learning, and growth connected with each of us striving in the same ways to get our work into appreciative hands.

Hemingway wrote in The Sun Also Rises, “How did you go bankrupt? Two ways. Gradually then suddenly.” Changing Hemingway’s question to, “How did you succeed?” describes Cosby’s experience. A lifetime of writing— persistence, honing of his craft, and sacrifice— went into his earning popular success, quite suddenly, at the age of 45.

Family storytelling helped to mold Cosby as a writer, and now his work molds a new generation of storytellers. A brief question and answer session following Comacho’s interview allowed us tap Cosby’s experience. One young lady posed the question, “What advice do you have for those of us who want to become writers?” I didn’t hear his advice, because the nurturing way he addressed the questioner struck me. “Well, first, you are a writer. Doesn’t matter if you’re writing a story, a novel, in your journal— you’re putting words to paper, so you’re already a writer.” Another attendee asked, “Your characters are so well developed, where do they come from?” Cosby responded, “That’s easy. They’re my cousins.”

For a great article about Cosby and his writing, check out “The Roots and Rise of S. A. Cosby, the New King of Southern Noir” by Cynthia Greenlee in Garden and Gun Magazine:

https://gardenandgun.com/the-roots-and-rise-of-s-a-cosby-the-new-king-of-southern-noir