Horace Mungin was born in Hollywood, South Carolina in 1941. He grew up in New York City where he attended public schools, and majored in English at Fordham University. He served three years in the U.S. Army and was a member of the 82nd Airborne Division. He lived in New York until 1989.

Horace started writing poetry in the late sixties, just after the genesis of the Black Arts Movement. During this period, he published two Broadside volumes of poetry, Dope Hustler’s Jazz, ‘68 and Now See Here, Homes, ‘69. Some of his early writings appeared in The New York Times, literary magazines, and poetry anthologies.

The Negro Book Club, Inc. selected Horace as its Artist of the Month in June of 1969. Later that same year, he published a collection of short fiction. In the early seventies, Horace helped found Black Forum Magazine, a widely acclaimed, national publication for writers. Horace also edited Press-Time, a literary newsletter until 1984.

In the seventies, Horace wrote a column for a Charleston, SC weekly newspaper. The column employed satire to explore a variety of political and social issues. The column was discontinued for a while then syndicated to ten other weekly newspapers and had a six year run. In 1991 a collection of those columns were published under the title Sleepy Willie Talks about Life. In May of 2001, Sleepy Willie Sings the Blues, the second book in the Sleepy Willie series was published. Horace wants to write one more Sleepy Willie book to complete the series. In 2004, the author published The Devil Beats His Wife, a collection of short stories rooted in the Charleston, South Carolina area. In 2006 San Juan Hill a fictional coming of age memoir of three young boys growing up in a New York City public housing project was published. In 2008 Subway; After the Irish, an account of his years as a New York City Subway conductor was released. In 2011 the author returned to poetry with the publication of Poetic Portraits: The African People of San Juan Hill, a book containing mostly loving profiles of the people he lived among in the Amsterdam Housing Projects during the 50’s. His latest book, A Different Point of View, is a 45 year collection of poetry that chronicles the racial changes happening in the United States over that period.   

Horace has published in Essence Magazine, Encore newsmagazine, Black Books Bulletin, Disc & That, The Lincoln Review, Blind Beggar Press, Ninety-Six Sampler of South Carolina Poetry, the Point newspaper, Nommo, Black Out Loud and The New York Times. Horace Mungin is listed in the S. C. Writers Directory and the Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers. He has read his works at the New School for Social Research, Furman University, Moja Arts Festival, Monday Night Blues and Poetry and Piccolo Spoleto. His short fiction has won the Piccolo Spoleto Fiction Open two years running (’01, ’02). He has a popular essay in Heart of the State, a 2013 anthology of South Carolina writers.

Horace and his wife, Gussie, live in Ridgeville, SC. He is contemplating another collection of southern based short fiction as his next project. They have three sons and six grandchildren.