ABSTRACT
The author was born Keith Karlyle Burns in Los Angeles, California. Khephra is an acquired nickname, which he uses professionally. He attended schools in Compton and Watts with never a thought of one day becoming a writer. He enrolled at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and graduated in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in English. Over the next five years, Burns danced, painted, lectured part-time at Santa Barbara City College, drove a cab, moved to Oakland, California, played jazz, and sold insurance.
