<p>It seems that Harvard has something to crow about in the realm of young adults (or teens) books. Now, they can bury the tarnished images of Blair and Kaavya and celebrate a *real *young talent!</p>
<p>Isabel Kaplan wrote ‘Hancock Park’ in high school. Now at 19 she’s on the bestseller list. Kaplan is a Los Angeles native who has already founded two nonprofit organizations, interned at Glamour magazine and with U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and attends Harvard University. Her first novel, the young adult book “Hancock Park,” became a Los Angeles Times bestseller two weeks after its June 30 publication date.</p>
<p>Not to be too cynical – but the key phrase in the quote above is “Judith Regan the onetime publishing powerhouse with whom Kaplan’s mothers is friends.”</p>
<p>I think this is unfair. My daughter goes to the same type of high school in LA and at her school having Susan Estrich as your mother would be nothing to brag about (she doesn’t even have an Oscar!). None of my daughter’s classmates have written a best selling book and they have way more connections than this girl.</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with being more than a tad cynical! </p>
<p>Why do I believe, however, than one’s degree of cynicism might be different had the link originated at HuffPo or The Daily Beast. Actually, this ibe a time when following a link to such a classy and reputable “media” outlet is bearable to the soul and mind. Try it!</p>
<p>Now *that *is … being cynical! ;)</p>
<p>PS One of the smartest and most helpful posters on College Confidential happened to attend Marlborough before Stanford. She was pretty easy to find since her CC handle was Marlgrl.</p>
<p>Harvard undergrads have been publishing books for ages. I had a friend named Beth Hilgartner. Her first book was published while she was in college. Her second shortly afterwards, but she wrote it while she was still a student. No connections whatsoever - though a Harvard creative writing teacher did connect her with a publisher.</p>
<p>BurnThis - I don’t doubt the girl is talented and accomplished. I just think the difference between being talented/accomplished and being published is often one of connections. Judith Regan is such a connection.</p>
<p>xiggi, lol - i read both of the ‘reputable’ outlets you mention - and I’d still be cynical :)</p>
<p>katliamom–you’re not cynical, just observant. (Ever read Outliers: The Story of Success?)
It really IS all about making the most of your opportunities, background and connections.
And a willingness to do the work, of course.</p>
<p>Yes, John Kennedy, a writer for The Crimson, published his senior thesis in book form as “Why England Slept.” Harvard still has the original first draft in Kennedy’s own handwriting. Of course young JFK had connections too.</p>
<p>You were in the same residential college at Yale with Jacob Epstein? For those who don’t remember, Epstein (who was the son of a Random House executive) had a novel called “Wild Oats” published about 30 years ago that turned out to be heavily plagiarized from Martin Amis’s first novel, “The Rachel Papers” – which was written, by the way, when Amis was very young himself. </p>
<p>I think Epstein was probably at Yale when I was there, but he was a little younger, and I didn’t know him. </p>
<p>I wonder what ever happened to him; I imagine he changed careers!</p>
<p>Didn’t do anything that Doris Kearns Goodwin didn’t, and she sits on H.'s Board of Trustees (or whatever they call it) - a good example for our nation’s youth,</p>