Kemp is a writer and Associate Director of Education for a nonprofit serving girls throughout Florida. She writes poetry about nature and relationships, and dabbles in creative nonfiction. She is a fellow of the National Writing Project and has a published study on the impact of professional development for teachers in the area of writing. She is a founding member of the Trail Brazen Writing Circle in SWFL.
What books are on your nightstand?
I don't keep books on my nightstand because I rarely read in bed. I use my bed for sleeping, mostly. But on the side table next to my side of the couch, I currently have ECO Literate by Daniel Coleman, Lisa Bennett, and Zenobia Barlow; Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv; Space and Place by Yi-Fu Tuan, and Florida Poems by Cambell McGrath. On my Kindle I have The Birdwoman's Palate by Laksmi Pamuntjak
What is the last great book you read?
It's hard for me to answer this question because I read very little fiction these days. I'm generally reading multiple nonfiction works at the same time to both prepare for a college course I teach, and feed a dream I have to start my own school. Lots of the reading I do is great, but I suppose the last great novel I read was Buck, by MK Asante. I just had to read it after hearing him at the Sanibel Island Writer's Conference last fall. He was inspiring and the book was phenomenal.
What's your go-to classic?
Lord of the Flies. Still quite possibly my favorite book of all time.
When do you read?
Whenever I can squeeze in the time.
What book are you embarrassed to say you haven't read?
1984 and Animal Farm. I wasn't an avid reader growing up, and neither of these were ever assigned reading in my high school English classes, so I never read them. I know, I know. They've been on my reading list since eternity, and I know I won't be disappointed. I just haven't made the time. Shame.
What book might people be surprised to find on your shelves?
The Essential Tantra: A Modern Guide to Sacred Sexuality
Who is your favorite fictional hero or heroine? Favorite antihero or villain?
I always struggle to answer this question. I'm not sure how it's to be answered. Is it the way a character is written by the author? Is it someone I'd wish to meet in person? I suppose Guy Montag from Fahrenheit 451 or Dinah from The Red Tent. Or maybe Huck Finn.
What kind of reader were you as a child? What were your favorite childhood books?
I was a good reader as a child. But I wasn't an avid reader. Incessantly active or "noodgy" as my mom would say in Jewish, I would rather be out playing than inside reading. It wasn't that I didn't like books, I just wasn't as captivated by them as my sister was. My favorites were the Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary books, and of course the silly poetry of Shel Silverstein.
Disappointing, overrated, just not good. What book did you feel as if you were supposed to like, but didn't. Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing?
Beowulf. Definitely Beowulf. My writing buddies- who are all English teachers- and I, always joke about it. Maybe if I had one of them for English, I would have liked it. And finished it. That's not to say my English teachers weren't good. Because they all were.
What do you plan to read next?
The Handmaid's Tale. I was trying so hard to read it before the TV series started, and I never got to it. Instead, I watched the whole first season of the show in awe and wished I had read the book first.
You're organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?
First, and I can't believe he hasn't come up before this questions, Elie Wiesel. Next, maybe Alice Walker or Maya Angelou. Oh, I don't know. This question always feels a little disingenuous. I'm a realist and this would never happen. I prefer to read the works of great authors than dream about meeting them.
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