| Samuel "Sam" Barry | |
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Sam Barry |
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| Born | January 26, 1957 Armonk, New York |
Samuel "Sam" Barry (born January 26, 1957) is an American author, columnist, publishing professional, and musician. Barry writes a national column and blog for BookPage with his wife, author Kathi Kamen Goldmark. He is the author of the humor-inspiration book How to Play the Harmonica: and Other Life Lessons[1] and co-authored the book Write That Book Already! The Tough Love You Need to Get Published Now with Goldmark.[2] He works for the San Francisco-based imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, HarperOne.[3] 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, and the FOX Strategy Room.
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Barry was born in Armonk, New York. 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.
Barry married his first wife, Patricia Hilliard, in 1986 and they had two children: Daniel, in 1989, and Laura, in 1993. Barry and Hilliard opened Alligator, a non-profit art gallery and performance space, in San Francisco’s Mission District in 1987. Barry served as a Presbyterian pastor in Boston and Omaha, Nebraska, where he was the solo pastor of Florence Presbyterian Church. In 2000 Barry left the ministry and moved back to San Francisco, where he joined the staff of HarperCollins. After divorcing Hilliard in 2003 he moved in with author Kathi Kamen Goldmark. The two were married in 2009 in a ceremony officiated by author Scott Turow.
He currently plays with the all-author rock band the Rock Bottom Remainders,[4] whose other members include his wife Kathi Kamen Goldmark, his brother Dave Barry, Scott Turow, Roy Blount Jr., James McBride, Matt Groening, Greg Iles, Stephen King, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson and Mitch Albom.
How to Play the Harmonica: and Other Life Lessons (Gibbs Smith Publisher, 2009)
Write That Book Already! The Tough Love You Need to Get Published Now (Adams Media, May 2010), co-author Kathi Kamen Goldmark