Bio
Alex Abella is a New York Times Notable Book novelist, screenwriter, Emmy award winning newswriter, and journalist.
Alex’s latest novel is Mission Churchill, a thriller involving assassination attempts against Winston Churchill—in 1933 Cuba and during the German Blitz on London. Churchill’s wily bodyguard, Walter Thompson, saves the Prime Minister, uncovering a wide conspiracy at the highest levels of British society to dispose of Churchill.
Alex’s first thriller, The Killing of the Saints (Crown), was a New York Times Notable Book, and was translated into twelve foreign languages. Its sequels, Dead of Night and Final Acts (Simon & Schuster) were published in quick succession. The trilogy won praise from critics and prominent writers such as Michael Connelly, T. Jefferson Parker, and Robert Ferrigno. Paramount Pictures optioned The Killing of the Saints and commissioned Alex to write the screenplay. Alex developed original series for Warner Bros. and The Disney Channel. His two-act play, Camelia, was staged Off Broadway at the Actors Ensemble Theater in New York City.
Alex also wrote The Great American (Simon & Schuster), a historical novel set in 1950s Cuba based on the life of William Morgan, a real-life, Ohio-born Marine who became one of the leaders of the Castro revolution. For years Alex has conducted dozens of interviews of prominent Cubans and Cuban Americans for an on-going project on the influence of Cuba in the U.S., A DARKER MIRROR.
Alex’s last non-fiction book, Soldiers of Reason: The Rand Corporation and the Rise of the American Empire (Harcourt), a study of the world’s most influential think tank, was long listed for the National Book Award. Alex’s other non-fiction books include Shadow Enemies (Lyons Press) a narrative account of a plot by Adolf Hitler to start a wave of terror and destruction in the United States. Alex has been a contributing writer to the Los Angeles Times, TIME Magazine, and a number of publications.
Born in Cuba, Alex’s family migrated to the United States when Alex was 10. Alex grew up in New York City, winning a Pulitzer Scholarship at Columbia University, earning a B.A. in Comparative Literature. Moving to California, Alex was a reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle. Switching over to broadcast media at KTVU-TV, Channel 2 News, Alex became producer, writer, and reporter, won a Newswriting Emmy (Group) and was nominated for an Emmy for Best Breaking News Story. Alex was a foreign correspondent in Central America and received a commendation from The San Francisco Press Club for his reporting.
Alex speaks five languages and has traveled extensively through Latin America and Europe. Alex is married and lives in the suburbs of Los Angeles.