Some people are shocked when they learn that Leila Mottley is still a teenager. Their shock comes as no surprise to her: "I expect it at this point."
Mottley was 16 when she served as Oakland's youth poet laureate and wrote the first chapter of her debut novel. Within three months, she had a first draft. Three years later, "Nightcrawling" is out this week from Knopf.
As a graduate of an arts high school in Oakland, Mottley knew other talented teenagers; she never thought of herself as an exception.
