Kathy Kemp
Kathy Kemp (born c. 1955 in Birmingham; died November 9, 2010) was an award-winning journalist and author, best known in Birmingham for her columns for the Birmingham Post-Herald and the Birmingham News. She is the author of three books published by Crane Hill Publishers and has contributed to People and The New York Times.
Kemp graduated from West End High School and interned at the Birmingham News and studied journalism at UAB and English at the Southern Connecticut State College in New Haven. She worked as a feature writer for the New Haven Register in Connecticut for four years before returning to Birmingham in 1981 to work at the Post-Herald. She moved over the the News as a feature writer and columnist in 1998.
Kemp won an Associated Press Newswriting Sweepstakes Award for a series of features about the Ku Klux Klan. The Scripps Howard News Service named her "Writer of the Year" three times and inducted her into its Editorial Hall of Fame. She also received the 2006 "Story of the Year" award and the 2009 prize for feature writing from the Alabama Press Association.
Kemp was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer in 2002. She died in 2010 and was survived by a companion, Kay Argo as well as her mother and brother.
Publications
- Kemp, Kathy and Keith Boyer (1994) Revelations: Alabama's Visionary Folk Artists. Birmingham: Crane Hill Publishers ISBN 1881548074
- Kemp, Kathy and Keith Boyer (1995) Welcome to Lickskillet and Other Crazy Places in the Deep South. Birmingham: Crane Hill Publishers ISBN 1881548228
- Kemp, Kathy and Karim Shamsi-Basha (1998) The Beauty Box. Birmingham: Crane Hill Publishers ISBN 1881548880
References
- Carlton, Bob (November 9, 2010) "Award-winning Birmingham journalist Kathy Kemp dies after long battle with cancer." Birmingham News
External links
- Kathy Kemp profile at the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama