Kevin Camp

Oyster River Pages: How has your writing changed over time?
Kevin Camp: It has changed in the same way that I have changed. I've become more introspective and I have become more responsible and less impulsive in what I write. The story I've recently written hearkens back to a time and a life I no longer live. And yet, oddly enough, the nostalgia about those younger years becomes more and more prominent.

ORP: How does writing change you?
KC: It points at truths that lay deep within me that only the creative process is capable of revealing.

ORP: What is the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
KC: "Money is always there, but the pockets change.- Gertrude Stein

ORP: Who do you hope reads your work and why?
KC: I hope that people who have a hard time being easily understood by others are attracted to my writing. More generally, I hope I highlight truths that seem obvious upon first read, but stay with the reader for a long time afterwards.

ORP: Do you consider your writing to be work or play?
KC: It can be both. The initial process of writing is very much play, but when it reaches the revision stage, it is undeniably work. Sometimes it goes back and forth over time.

Kevin Camp was first published in essay form in a 2010 book entitled Quaker Rising, which included the written works of young adult Quakers across the United States and Canada. A second essay was published in 2012 by Friends Journal. His life story was included in religion writer Mark O. Pinsky's book Amazing Gifts (Alban Institute, 2013). Most notably he was awarded Honorable Mention by New Millennium Writings in 2015. He regularly contributes to the Community section of the metablog Daily Kos. A proud member of the Religious Society of Friends, Camp lives in Hoover, Alabama. Read his story in Issue 3.2.