As of right now (September 2023):
Kevin Smokler is writing a book of 30 career-spanning conversations with America’s leading women film directors for Oxford University Press (Publication date 2025). Kevin will research and conduct each interview with artists in both narrative and documentary film who have shaped our very idea of contemporary cinema. The project will be edited by Norman Hirschy, executive editor of OUP books about film, music, dance and cultural biography and is represented by Kevin Smokler’s literary agent Nicki Richesin (Nicki@dclagency.com) at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.
His documentary film, Vinyl Nation is distributed by 1091 Pictures and currently available on Youtube and on DVD. International sales are handled by Kaz Basma at Sideways Film. He’s currently at work on his next documentary project.
Kevin’s previous books include:
Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to 80s Teen Movies (2016)
Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books You Haven’t Touched Since High School (2013)
Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times (2005)
SHORT:
Kevin Smokler (@weegee) is a writer, documentary filmmaker and event host with a focus on overlooked communities in pop culture. He’s the author of the book Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to 80s Teen Movies (2016) and the essay collection Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books you Haven’t Touched Since High School (2013). In 2022, he co-directed the documentary film Vinyl Nation on the contemporary renaissance of vinyl records in America, which played at 57 festivals worldwide, won 9 festival awards on 5 continents and is currently distributed by 1091 Pictures. He’s appeared in conversation onstage with comedians, playwrights, authors, magazine publishers, architects, musicians and filmmakers for the last 2 decades and lives in San Francisco with his wife and many books and vinyl records.
LONG:
Kevin Smokler (@weegee) is a writer, documentary filmmaker and event host with a focus on pop culture. He’s the author of the books Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to 80s Teen Movies (2016) called “An absolute delight” by Library Journal, the essay collection Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books you Haven’t Touched Since High School (2013) which The Atlantic called “truly enjoyable” and the editor of “Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times,” A San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book of 2005. His essays and criticism has appeared in the LA Times, Salon, Fast Company, BuzzFeed, Vulture, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Decider and on National Public Radio. He’s currently at work on a collection of in-depth interviews with women film directors to be published by Oxford University Press in 2025.
In 2022, he co-directed and co-produced the feature-length documentary film Vinyl Nation on the contemporary renaissance of vinyl records in America. Vinyl Nation has been called “a lively, engaging affair” by Film Threat and a “populist unifier.” Vinyl Nation is an official selection of 57 film festivals around the globe and is distributed by 1091 Pictures.
Kevin has been fortunate to lecture, teach and host cultural events for venues and organizations across North America including New York Comic Con, M.I.T, South by Southwest, The LA Times Festival of Books and The Commonwealth Club of California. He’s appeared in conversation onstage with comedians, playwrights, authors, magazine publishers, architects, musicians and filmmakers since 2005.
In 2013, he was BookRiot’s first ever Writer-in-Residence and has been a 3-time Artist-in-Residence of the Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest, Illinois and an alumni of Reboot and the Asylum Arts network. He currently serves as a Creator-in-Residence for The Battery in San Francisco and sits on the board of Zyzzvya Magazine
Kevin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Writing Seminars from Johns Hopkins University and a Masters in American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. A native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, he has lived for the last 23 years in his adopted home of San Francisco with his wife and far too many books and vinyl records.
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