Ken Kuhlken was born and grew up in San Diego, played semi-pro baseball in Tijuana, and attended San Diego State University

San Diego State University

San Diego State University , founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area , and is part of the California State University system...

, first as a philosophy and then as an English major. After college, he wrote, played guitar and sang in a rock and blues band, and taught high school, before relocating to attend the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

His stories have appeared in Esquire and dozens of other magazines and anthologies, been honorably mentioned in Best American Short Stories, and earned a National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...

 Fellowship.

During the 1980s, his fascination with novels of crime, punishment, and redemption, led him to conceive of the Hickey family series, which he continues to write. He has also been a frequent contributor of fiction and feature articles and a columnist for the San Diego Reader

San Diego Reader

The San Diego Reader is the largest alternative press paper in the county of San Diego, distributed free in stands and private businesses throughout the county, funded by advertisements...

.

He has taught Creative Writing at the University of Arizona

University of Arizona

The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...

; California State University, Chico

California State University, Chico

California State University, Chico is the second-oldest campus in the twenty-three-campus California State University system. It is located in Chico, California, about ninety miles north of Sacramento...

; and San Diego State University. With his wife Pam, he founded Perelandra College, which he serves as president and chair of Creative Writing.

Novels

• Midheaven, (1980) finalist for the Ernest Hemingway Award for best first novel
• The Loud Adios, (1989) Private Eye Writers of America Best First Mystery Novel
• The Venus Deal (1991)
• The Angel Gang (1993)
• The Do-Re-Mi (2006) Shamus Award finalist
• The Vagabond Virgins (2008)
• "The Biggest Liar in Los Angeles" (2010)