Kevin Brown (author) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kevin Brown
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| Born | September 3, 1960 |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | City University of New York (CUNY) |
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| Years active | from 1978 |
| Organization | PEN American Center |
Kevin Brown (born September 3, 1960) is an American writer. He is known for writing books about people's lives (biographies) and short articles (essays). He also works as a translator, changing books from one language to another.
Kevin Brown was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He became interested in writing after finishing high school in 1977. While studying at Columbia University and City University of New York, he wrote reviews and essays for Threepenny Review.
Brown has written for many publications, including Afterimage, American Book Review, and Washington Post. He has also written biographies about famous people. These include Romare Bearden: Artist (1994) about Romare Bearden, and Malcolm X: His Life and Legacy (1995) about Malcolm X. In 1999, he helped edit the African American Desk Reference.
Contents
Early Life and Travels
Kevin Brown was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1960. His mother, Duan Nimmons, came from a family active in the Harlem Renaissance. His father, John Brown, was a writer and a football player.
As a young child, Kevin traveled a lot with his father. They visited places in Western Europe and North Africa. In the late 1960s, Brown lived in the Haight Ashbury area of San Francisco. He went to Twin Peaks Elementary School there.
In the early 1970s, he lived in the Bay Area of California. He attended Ralston Middle School in Belmont, California. He also went to Rancho Junior High and Samuel Ayer High School in Milpitas, California. He finished high school in 1977 at Southeast High School in Kansas City, Missouri. After that, he lived in St. Louis, Missouri, where he spent time reading, writing, and working as a waiter.
Education and Writing Career
From 1980 to 1984, Kevin Brown lived in San Francisco. He studied old languages like Latin and Greek with a private teacher. He read many books by famous writers, both old and new. He started publishing book reviews in newspapers like the Oakland Tribune. He wrote about authors like Zora Neale Hurston and Virginia Woolf. He also wrote longer essays for Threepenny Review.
In 1985, Brown moved to New York. He worked as an assistant in the publishing world. He also wrote for The Times Literary Supplement.
In 1986, Brown started studying at Columbia University. Later, he moved to the City University of New York (CUNY). He studied Spanish and how to translate and interpret languages. He learned from famous literary translator Gregory Rabassa.
From 1987 to 1989, Brown regularly wrote book reviews for Kirkus Reviews. He reviewed books on many different topics. These included books about Africa, African-American writers, and French history.
During the 1990s, he traveled in Central America and Eastern Europe. He wrote for magazines like the American Book Review and New York Newsday. He also began working on a series of biographies. These books were about Romare Bearden, Malcolm X, and Countee Cullen.
Biographies and Other Works
In 1994, Brown's biography of Romare Bearden was released. It was called Romare Bearden: Artist.
In 1995, his biography of Malcolm X came out. It was titled Malcolm X: His Life and Legacy. Brown was asked to write this book in 1993, after Spike Lee's movie about Malcolm X was released. In his book, Brown wrote about Malcolm X's life story. He also looked at how Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. were important leaders during the civil rights movement.
In 1999, Brown was an editor for the African American Desk Reference. This book shares important information about African American history. Brown wrote chapter 14, which was about music.
In 2005, Brown translated an essay by Virginia Woolf into Spanish. It was published in a journal called eXchanges. In 2006, his interview with translator Gregory Rabassa was published.
Throughout his career, Brown has written essays and articles for many different publications. These include The Brooklyn Rail, The Kansas City Star, The Nation, and Washington Post.
Personal Life
Family and Home
Kevin Brown lived in New York for 22 years, from 1985 to 2007. During that time, he got married and had a son. In 2007, Brown moved back to California. He now lives in San Diego.
Family History and Influence
Kevin Brown's family history has influenced his writing. His father, John Brown, was a writer and played football for the Iowa Hawkeyes in the late 1950s. He played in the 1959 Rose Bowl. In the mid-1960s, John Brown knew writers like William S. Burroughs and Ted Joans. These writers were part of the Beat Generation.
Kevin's mother, Duan Nimmons, was born in New York City in 1940. Her family was active in the Harlem Renaissance. This was a time in the 1920s and early 1930s when African American art and culture thrived. His great-grandmother was Ida Mae Roberson. She later became Ida Cullen-Cooper and was the widow of Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen.
