Kevin Sharp is a Palo Alto, California-based writer who has taught writing throughout the region. Kevin Sharp also has penned book reviews and articles for Bookmarks Magazine and Fiction Attic, among other literary outlets. H.L. Mencken is one of literature’s most well-known and influential critics and scholars. Over the course of his lifetime, he reviewed a number of major titles and authors. Despite his experience and literary renown, Mencken was hardly infallible. In 1925, he reviewed The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald for the Chicago Tribune. Mencken, in short, cared little for Fitzgerald’s third novel, now regarded as one of the finest American books ever written.Mencken opens the review by stating that The Great Gatsby amounts to little more than an implausibly plotted anecdote. He found the characters “astonishingly lifelike,” but felt the book lacked depth, particularly compared to earlier Fitzgerald efforts like This Side of Paradise. Again, present sentiments run quite the contrary, with most maintaining that The Great Gatsby and its themes speak to the nebulous concept of the great American novel, while Fitzgerald’s prior works read somewhat juvenile in comparison.To his credit, Mencken identified Fitzgerald as a talented writer and important among his peers. He also praised the book’s careful structure and lush prose. Ultimately, however, he concluded that The Great Gatsby was an incomplete work and only a suggestion of his full capabilities. Since Mencken’s review, Gatsby has been revered as a near flawless construction and generally considered Fitzgerald's greatest accomplishment.
Palo Alto, California, resident Kevin Sharp is the author of After Dakota, a young adult novel about high school life set in the early 1980s. An author of short stories, fiction, and screenplays, Kevin Sharp of Palo Alto belongs to the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).A nonprofit organization founded by Stephen Mooser and Lin Oliver in 1971, SCBWI aims to promote original creations and foster quality children’s books all over the world. The only professional body for children- and young adult-centric independent writers and illustrators, the society is also comprised of publishers, editors, translators, bloggers, librarians, and booksellers.Membership in the organization is available to all children’s literature or media enthusiasts. SCBWI also has a special membership provision for students. Membership includes professional support and guidance for those in the publishing industry, up-to-date information about the industry, a quarterly publication about the field of children’s literature, access to podcasts and interviews of prominent people in the field, and chances to network with others in publishing. For more detailed information on how to join, please visit www.scbwi.org/join-scbwi.
Kevin Sharp is an author in Palo Alto, California, who has taught creative writing programs to after school students in Mountain View and Sunnyvale. After relocating to Palo Alto, Kevin Sharp gained experienced as a book reviewer and writer for Bookmarks Magazine.In the literary world, a glowing or scathing review can be hugely influential in regards to the success or failure of a book. Sometimes, critics can have an even more direct impact on a book’s reputation, such as when it comes to prestigious accolades like the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC). A registered 501(c)(3) non-profit, NBCC is comprised of nearly 600 critics, authors, online writers, and other professionals in the publishing industry.Every year, the NBCC recognizes exceptional writing in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and criticism, among other categories, through the NBCC awards program. In 2016, winners included LaRose by Louise Erdrich in fiction, Matt Desmond’s Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City for non-fiction, and Ishion Hutchinson’s collection of poems, House of Lords and Commons. The 2016 Critic’s Circle award for criticism, meanwhile, went to White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson. Expanding on a well received op-ed in The Washington Post, White Rage examines today’s cultural and racial landscape through the lens of transformative past events. The NBCC awards date back to 1975, when winners included E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime and The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell.
Kevin Sharp is a Palo Alto, California-based writer. He is the author of After Dakota, a young adult novel set in 1980s America. As part of Kevin Sharp's commitment to children's literature, the Palo Alto resident is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators supports the professionals who help create books for children and young adults. Established in 1971, this non-profit organization connects more than 22,000 writers, publishers, and educators from around the world. Members work together to support their industry, recognize exemplary writing, and promote children's literature.The SCBWI also makes an array of grants and awards available to exemplary authors and illustrators. These include the Golden Kite Awards, the only children's literature award selected by a panel of industry peers. Golden Kite Awards honor winners in five categories, ranging from picture book illustration to nonfiction writing. Nominations for the 2018 awards will open July 1, 2017 and close on December 5, 2017.
A resident of Palo Alto, California, Kevin Sharp has established a reputation as a lyrical writer of fiction, based on works such as his novel, After Dakota. Kevin Sharp has also published a number of shorter works on sites such as Fiction Attic, including the 2016 piece “The Place I Belong.”Beginning with the sentence “My life changed when I turned seven,” the Palo Alto author writes of a boy who lives with his single mom in a Flagstaff, Arizona, mobile home and wishes each birthday for a full-scale Batmobile and for his father to return home. His mother has a number of dates, but the boy never fully approves of them and lacks a male role model in his life. This all changes when the boy’s mom starts taking her dates to the trailer for dinner and the boy has regular awkward exchanges with the men, which are best summed up in the phrase, “It was nice meeting you. Sort of.” Everything changes again on a momentous day when the boy receives a call from his distantly remembered father from a phone booth.
