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 biographies, essays, and for translating books. 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. These include Afterimage, American Book Review, and Washington Post. He also wrote biographies about important figures. These include Romare Bearden: Artist (1994) and Malcolm X: His Life and Legacy (1995). In 1999, he was an editor for the African American Desk Reference.
Contents
Kevin Brown's Early Life
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. Before starting primary school, Kevin traveled 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 in Kansas City, Missouri. From 1978 to 1979, he lived in St. Louis, Missouri. During this time, he spent a lot of time reading and writing.
Education and Writing Career
From 1980 to 1984, Kevin Brown lived in San Francisco. He studied Latin and Greek with a private teacher. He read many old books and works by French writers. He also read books by modern writers like Gore Vidal. He started writing book reviews for newspapers. These included the Oakland Tribune. He wrote about authors like Zora Neale Hurston and Virginia Woolf. He also wrote longer essays for Threepenny Review. These essays were about people like Carlos Saura and James Baldwin.
In 1985, Brown moved to New York. He worked as an assistant in the publishing industry. He also wrote for The Times Literary Supplement.
In 1986, Brown started attending Columbia University School of General Studies. After one year, he moved to the City University of New York (CUNY). At CUNY, he studied Spanish and also how to translate and interpret languages. He completed his degree through a special program at CUNY. He learned from famous literary translator Gregory Rabassa.
From 1987 to 1989, Brown wrote many book reviews for Kirkus Reviews. He reviewed books on many different topics. These included Africa, African-American writers, and American poetry. He also reviewed books on French history, the Harlem Renaissance, music, and politics.
During the 1990s, he traveled to Central America and Eastern Europe. He wrote for American Book Review and New York Newsday. He also began working on a series of biographies. These were about Romare Bearden, Malcolm X, and Countee Cullen.
Biographies by Kevin Brown
In 1994, Brown's first biography was released. It was called Romare Bearden: Artist. This book was about the famous artist Romare Bearden.
In 1995, his biography Malcolm X: His Life and Legacy came out. This book was about the life of Malcolm X. Brown was asked to write this book in 1993. This was shortly after Spike Lee's movie about Malcolm X was released. Brown's book tells the story of Malcolm X's life. It also talks about the civil rights and black nationalist movements.
In 1999, Brown helped edit the book African American Desk Reference. This book provided important information about African American history. Brown wrote chapter 14, which was about music.
Translations and Other Works
In 2005, Kevin Brown translated an essay by Virginia Woolf into Spanish. The essay was called "Reviewing." It appeared in the Iowa University journal eXchanges.
In 2006, he wrote an interview with translator Gregory Rabassa. This interview was published by the University of Delaware's Review of Latin American Studies.
Throughout his career, Brown has written essays and articles for many journals and magazines. Some of these include Afterimage, The Brooklyn Rail, The Chattahoochee Review, Fiction International, Georgia Review, The Kansas City Star, The Nation, and Washington Post.
Kevin Brown's Personal Life
Family and Home
Kevin Brown lived in New York for 22 years, from 1985 to 2007. During this time, he got married and had a son. In 2007, Brown moved back to California. He currently lives in San Diego.
Family History and Influence
Kevin Brown's family history has influenced his writing. His father, John Brown, was a writer. He was also a running back for the Iowa Hawkeyes football team in the late 1950s. John Brown 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 1940 in New York City. Her family was involved in the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and early 1930s. His great-grandmother was Ida Mae Roberson. She later became Ida Cullen-Cooper. She was the widow of Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen.
