Laurel Hennen Vigil

About Laurel

Laurel Hennen Vigil is a fourth-generation Californian, with Nuevomexicano roots in New Mexico and southern Colorado. Her film-buff family raised her with a love of Old Hollywood, film noir, and all things California, which—along with her heritage and family history—inspired her debut novel, Hollywood Nocturno.

She graduated from Vassar College, where she studied sociology and creative writing. Her freelance journalism has appeared in publications including Ms. Magazine and the East Bay Express, and she worked on Reveal’s award-winning investigative crime podcast, “Mississippi Goddam.”

When she’s not backpacking around the world solo and chronicling her adventures on her blog, Kicking Through Continents, Laurel lives in Oakland, California, in a house full of rescue cats.