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Tavis: I'm pleased to welcome the acclaimed author Walter Mosley to the program. His brilliant writing career includes notable novels like "Devil in a Blue Dress," "Black Betty" and "Fearless Jones." Of course, you know that because you've read all those, haven't you? His latest book is called "Little Scarlet," set against the backdrop of the L.A. riots of 1965. And tonight, speaking of Los Angeles, here in L.A., Walter Mosley received a lifetime achievement award at the Penn USA annual literary awards festival. Walter, I don't know where are you putting all these awards these days.

Walter Mosley: Hey, I don't know, either. I only keep out the Grammy.

Tavis: Congratulations.

Mosley: Thank you very much.

Tavis: I'm actually laughing at you receiving another literary award, because there are two things about you that kind of fascinate me. One, you really haven't been writing that long.

Mosley: Uh-huh.

Tavis: 1990.

Mosley: Yes.

Tavis: That's not really that long. So one, you're getting all these literary awards, lifetime achievement awards, you ain't been writing that long, number one. Number two, you ain't that old.

Mosley: That's true, even though I look it, I'm not really that old. Well, you know, it's--part of it--it's a whole structure and a system. The idea is that, you know, you have organizations that really need support. Part of it--giving awards, is to say, well, a lot of people know who you are and we like your work, so bring it in. I'm sure there are a lot of people who are more deserving, actually, than me. You know, but I'm happy.

Tavis: But you're not giving the awards back, though?

Mosley: I'll give them to other people. Would you like an award? No.

Tavis: You have spun off--I'm giving you the credit because you really are at the front of the pack here, in terms of what I want to share with you now. But there are a number of young brothers who I have met of late--a couple of them came to my NPR show--who have written mystery novels. There's a young man, a medical contributor on our show, who was on this show, Dr. Ian Smith, he's written a mystery novel called "The Black Bird Papers." Another guy on my show, Ken Mask, who wrote a book called "Murder at the Butt in New Orleans," a story set in New Orleans. But there are a lot of brothers now who figure that if Walter Mosley can do this, I can take a stab at it at least. So how do you feel about all these brothers now writing mystery novels?

Mosley: Men and women. And it's really--when I first started writing, which is...when I first published in 1990, 14 years ago, there was one other black male mystery writer, Gar Anthony Haywood, and that was it. And now there's, like, 60 or 70 published in America, and I'm happy about that. I think the success of "Devil" and the impact of "Devil" opened the door to people saying I'm willing to give these people a chance. I'm sure a lot of other people were writing, still, because people came out of Chester Himes, Donald Goines. But the thing is is that once they saw some success coming, people said, you know, let's try this, let's see if it's successful. Of course, you know, people following in my footsteps makes me happy.

Tavis: What made your stuff, what made Easy's stuff, Easy Rawlins' stuff so successful, number one? What made that happen? And number two, what is it about this particular genre, aside from your success, that interests or excites people enough to want to pursue it?

Mosley: I think the genre's intensely political. It's philosophical and political. The hard-boiled genre, it's really an existentialist genre. And so you can actually talk about the malaise in the human soul, the problem in life, the corruption. And a lot of people are trying to solve mysteries in everyday life. They're trying to say I know something's wrong. I know there's a reason that things keep on working out like this, but I don't know why. And the detective helps to solve all different kinds of mysteries and it makes people happier. The reason I'm successful? I don't know. Easy Rawlins is a kind of an every man. He's a salt of the earth kind of guy, and Mouse is the murderer you love to love, you know. And so that's a--that's the thing. I'm very happy that people like the writing.

Tavis: Speaking of happy, how happy are you that Mouse, playing Mouse in "Devil," really put a fine actor, Don Cheadle on the map? I mean, Don has not looked back. I just saw him on TV the other day doing "Oceans 12," I guess, the follow up. But Don Cheadle really came--he's a great actor, but he came into his own playing that Mouse character, stole the movie, some argue, from our friend Denzel Washington.

Mosley: Well, everybody argues that. It's his movie, you know. I just talked to Don this morning. He's a great actor, and Mouse really gave him a way to be so powerfully on the minds of people. Because the character of Mouse is a character--the reason that so many people like him, white and black, make and female, is because when Easy says to Mouse, "Man, I'm feeling bad because there's a tax man that's on my butt," and Mouse says, "Tell me who he is, man. I'll shoot him." Everybody wants that guy on his side.

Tavis: I remember that scene very well, yeah.

Mosley: So the thing is, so when--and Don, he made that part of himself. And so he's a great actor, and he's representing this character that most Americans like. Anybody'd like a guy who's gonna shoot the tax man. So I think put those two things together, this is what was great. And also he was hungry at that time, and you could see it. And those scenes with Denzel, you know, he stole those scenes.

Tavis: Tell me more about "Little Scarlet," the latest in the Easy Rawlins mystery series.

Mosley: Well, you know, "Little Scarlet" is a--I'm writing...Easy gets older. The first book is in 1939. "Gone Fishin'." Now we're, you know, in 1965. I've always wanted to--you don't have a history unless your history is in literature. I want to talk about black people, that migration from Texas and Louisiana into Southern California and a bit into Central California. I got to 1965, it was, like, God, it's time to talk about the riots. I was going to do it in the middle of the riots. You know, there's a crime happening. Easy's looking for somebody. It's really--there's a lot of pressure. There's snipers and arsonists and policemen. It was something else. But as I looked at it, I began to realize that the Watts riots is one of the most important mid-century events in America, more important internally than the Vietnam war, more important, I believe, than the Kennedy assassination. When the people of Watts rioted, they changed all of America. Before that, the black movement was a peace movement. All of a sudden, they said, "You mean those black people feel like shooting at me?" And they said, "How many of them feel like that?" And the answer came back, All of them want to and many of them will. And that changed all of America. And the amazing thing--there was no leader, there was no apologist, there was no critics--internal critics. These were just poor and working class people who said, I am tired of this stuff, and I'm going to express myself. Changed the whole country.

Tavis: When the email starts to come to me about you making the L.A.--the Watts riots more significant than the Kennedy assassination, I'm gonna forward it to you.

Mosley: Oh, yeah. Send it to me. Because the Kennedy assassination, as terrible as it was, didn't change America. It didn't change America, it saddened America. It was a great blow to our psyche, you know. I felt it. We all felt it. But the Watts riots actually changed the relations between the races. It said, uh-oh. Change has to happen now. Next time I go out there with that hose, I got to make sure that those people don't have guns to shoot back at me, you know. It was a big change.

Tavis: You grew up in L.A. How much do you find yourself resisting or embracing putting you, your experiences, for lack of a better word, in the book in various places?

Mosley: I don't think when I write. That's a terrible thing to say, but I don't.

Tavis: You just let it flow?

Mosley: I just write. I was actually--before--

Tavis: See, I don't think when I write, either, but I don't get best sellers out of that. That strategy doesn't work for me, Walter.

Mosley: That's only because you're not writing fiction, Tavis. If you were writing fiction, you'd be getting best sellers. I've heard that.

Tavis: It doesn't work for me, but go ahead. I'm sorry.

Mosley: This morning I was writing--I was working on a sex scene. And for a moment I said--

Tavis: You were writing one or you were in a sex scene?

Mosley: I was writing a sex scene.

Tavis: OK, I'm just asking. You said you were working on a sex scene.

Mosley: I was working on a sex scene. I was writing it and I got in the middle of it and I said, I don't know if I want to say this.

Tavis: Uh-huh.

Mosley: And then I thought, well, nobody is reading it. Before the book comes out, if I don't want them to know about it, I'll take it out. And so there's a freedom of writing. If my experiences come in and they work, fine. If they don't work, fine. So there's not an issue of worrying about that when you're a writer.

Tavis: I'm sure we are dying, all of us are dying to read about Walter Mosley's sex life.

Mosley: Oh, that's right.

Tavis: So you put some of that in the next book.

Mosley: That's because people want comedy in their lives. They want to laugh.

Tavis: Comedy, yeah. I can never have a conversation with you without giving you, like, big ups for this, because you are so deserving of kudos for making sure that every so often in your career you publish a book with an independent book publisher. You leave the big house. I know they can't be happy about that. But every so often, every so many years you are intent and serious about publishing with an independent publisher and most often an African-American owned press. Why are you so serious about doing that consistently?

Mosley: Because...because African-Americans are the wealthiest, most powerful, most influential group of black people in the world. We might be victims to some degree in some way. I don't doubt that. We are, actually. I won't even say might. We are. But if a mother is a victim, that doesn't mean she doesn't take care of her children. She says, oh, yeah, I've been treated bad in my life, but when I come home, I make my kids happy, I make sure they're warm and they eat, et cetera. We have a responsibility. We have a responsibility to the black community in America, and also in the greater world. And so if I don't--if I, a black man, don't give a book every once in a while to a black publisher to support black business, how can I expect somebody else to do it? 'Cause Irish people, you know, they support their people and Jewish people support their people, and, you know. Everybody supports their own people. So if black people themselves don't do it, you know. I know you also publish yourself and also with black presses, and I think that's a wonderful thing. We have to do it, and not enough of us do.

Tavis: What's your sense of the state of publishing these days?

Mosley: Well, you know, publishing, like every other thing, is changing a lot in America. There's--the technology is changing. The way information is given out is changing. What people consider is important and the really important thing about reading is it's still as important as it always was. It still causes people to think and makes their lives better, makes the lives of the people they live with better, but it's not as apparent. So a lot of people move away from reading and writing and that kind of stuff, and that's not so good. But I think that among black people in publishing, it's great, you know. Used to be, you had to be a genius to be a black man or woman and publish a book. And now, you know, almost anybody can do it. I think it's a good thing.

Tavis: Yeah. I got eight of 'em. They published eight of them. How'd that happen?

Mosley: But you know what I'm saying. It's good to have the possibility, because that means you have more wonderful writers.

Tavis: In 30 seconds, right quick, that is a good thing. I think that more of us, even if it's not best-selling stuff, more people of color, more women need to tell their stories.

Mosley: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. And if we tell those stories, and if we build an audience, we're going to build up readerships and there will be more reading and there will be a greater life role.

Tavis: Well, speaking of reading, if you want some good reading, pick up the latest novel by Walter Mosley called "Little Scarlet," the most recent project in the Easy Rawlins mystery series. Love that guy. Love this guy. Walter, nice to see you.

Mosley: It's great to see you.

Tavis: All the best to you. That's all of our show tonight. As always, you can catch me on the radio on NPR, National Public Radio. I will see you back here next time on PBS. Until then, thanks for watching. Good night from Los Angeles, and as always, keep the faith.