Sam Barry (author)

Career

Sam Barry is the editor of and contributor to the interactive e-book Hard Listening: The Greatest Rock Band Ever (of Authors) Tells All. He is also the author of the humor-inspiration book How to Play the Harmonica: and Other Life Lessons and co-authored the book Write That Book Already! The Tough Love You Need to Get Published Now with his late wife Kathi Kamen Goldmark. Barry and Goldmark wrote Author Enablers, a national column and blog for BookPage. Goldmark died of triple negative breast cancer on May 24, 2012. In 2014, Barry oversaw the posthumous publication of Goldmark's novel Her Wild Oats (Untreed Reads Publications).

Barry is the Author Services Liaison at Book Passage, where he heads the Path to Publishing Program. He is a contributing editor at the literary magazine Zyzzyva, and serves on the board of San Francisco’s literary festival, Litquake. For many years he wrote the Author Enabler column for the national book review publication BookPage, offering information and encouragement to aspiring authors. He has previously worked for the San Francisco-based imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, HarperOne.

Barry is also a musician who is best known for his harmonica and piano playing. He has frequently appeared on the national radio show West Coast Live, and has been a guest on the Leonard Lopate Show, the Brian Copeland Show, the Peter B. Collins Show, Liz St. John's Peep Show, and Alan Farley's Book Talk.

Early life and education

Barry was born in Armonk, New York as the fourth child of David and Marion Barry. His father was a Presbyterian minister and social activist who, as the Executive Director of the New York City Mission Society, worked to improve the lives of people in New York's inner-city. He has three siblings: Mary Katherine Barry, who was married to the actor Antonio Fargas, the humorist Dave Barry, and Phil Barry. Barry earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the State University of New York at Purchase in 1981 and a Master of Divinity from the San Francisco Theological Seminary in 1993.

Adult life

Sam Barry is a musician and author in the San Francisco Bay Area. He also plays with the Rock Bottom Remainders, an all-author rock band founded by Goldmark in 1992. Other members include his brother Dave Barry, Scott Turow, Roy Blount Jr., James McBride, Matt Groening, Greg Iles, Stephen King, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson and Mitch Albom.

Barry is the author of How to Play the Harmonica and Other Life Lessons (2009, Gibbs Smith). He coauthored Write That Book Already!: The Tough Love You Need to Get Published Now (Adams Media, 2010) with his late wife, Kathi Kamen Goldmark. Following Goldmark's death in 2012, Barry edited and contributed to the book Hard Listening: The Greatest Rock Band (of Authors) Ever Tells All (2012, Coliloquy), which tells the story of the band founded by Goldmark, The Rock Bottom Remainders. In 2014 Barry published Goldmark's novel Her Wild Oats (2014, Untreed Reads).

Barry is the co-creator with Jennifer Lou of the humor website The Hilario www.thehilario.com http:. He is the director of a writing program Path to Publishing at the well-known independent bookstore Book Passage.

Works