Beth Kephart, the award-winning author of more than three-dozen books of fiction and nonfiction for readers of all ages, has chaired national literature juries; written about memoir and literature for national publications; interviewed some of the most exquisite writers among us (see below); and both presented keynotes and participated in literary events across the country.
Her substack, The Hush and the Howl, features new writing on life and literature, alongside new art.
Beth’s first novel for adults, Tomorrow Will Bring Sunday’s News: A Philadelphia Story (Tursulowe Press, 2025), received a starred Booklist review and was called “staggeringly beautiful” by Small Picks Press.
Recent memoir work includes Wife | Daughter | Self: A Memoir in Essays (Forest Avenue Press) and My Life in Paper: Adventures in Ephemera (Temple University Press).
Recent memoir craft books can be found at Juncture Workshops.
Recent novels for young readers include Cloud Hopper (co-winner of the Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, 7-12 grades), The Great Upending (a 2020 Parents’ Choice Gold Medal Winner), and Wild Blues (a Junior Library Guild Selection).
Picture book stories/biographies/histories include: Trini’s Big Leap (illustrated by William Sulit), And I Paint It: Henriette Wyeth’s World (illustrated by Amy June Bates), Beautiful Useful Things (illustrated by Melodie Stacey), A Room of Your Own: A Story Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s Famous Essay (illustrated by Julia Brekenreid), Good Books for Bad Children: The Genius of Ursula Nordstrom (illustrated by Chloe Bristol), and Mud Angels, forthcoming, illustrated by Roberto Innocenti), among others.
An adjunct teacher of creative nonfiction and fiction at the University of Pennsylvania, Beth received the 2015 Beltran Family Award for Innovative Teaching and Mentoring. She was the 2013 National YoungArts master writing teacher and has conducted workshops across the country in a variety of settings ranging from universities and high schools to community centers and literary festivals.
Beth was named one of the 50 writers celebrated in the year-long Philadelphia’s Literary Legacy exhibit at the Philadelphia International Airport, and passages and photographs from her book Love: A Philadelphia Affair were the subject of a six-month display at the Philadelphia International Airport in 2016. She is a Radnor High School Hall of Famer and delivered the Radnor commencement address in 2016. Her book Flow: The Life and Times of Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River has become a Philadelphia classic.
Over the course of her career, Beth has interviewed, for print magazines as well as for library and academic events, writers ranging from C.K. Williams and Gerald Stern to Emily St. John Mandel, Casey Gerald, Nicole Chung, Buzz Bissinger, Sara Novic, Daniel Menaker, Ken Kalfus, Harlan Coben, Margaret Renkl, Carolyn Forche, Dani Shapiro, Alice Elliott Dark, Abigail Thomas, Will Dowd, and Amy Tan.
Beth and her husband create blank books with his original art and her handmade papers. BINDbyBIND, their Etsy shop, is live. More about her book work at bind-arts.com.