About the Author
Philip L. Levin, MD
Chekhov wrote, “Medicine is my wife, writing my mistress.” As an emergency room physician, I fought disease, saved lives, and brought hope to those in pain. These interactions provided inspiration to my passion, the joy of expression found in writing.
Board certified in both Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine, I have 43 years experience as an Emergeny medicine physician. I’ve been president of the county medical society and the state chapter of Emergency Physicians. I’ve undertaken 10 medical missionary trips, providing care to indigents on four contients. My book, "On a Mission," documents some of these trips, complete with a dozen poems and 200 photos.
I came by my writing skills from both sides of my ancestry. My mother, Beatrice S. Levin, published about 30 books and a thousand articles. As well as being the author of scores of scientific works, my father, Franklyn K. Levin, edited the magazine Geophysics for several years, taking up poetry after retirement.
I’ve always been a writer. During college I edited the college newspaper. I graduated debt free from medical school, earning enough from sales of my writing to pay my tuition. Raising my family and tackling my career slowed my writing output for two decades, and once the children were off in college, I settled down to learning the craft.
I published my first novel, “Inheritance,” in 2007, delighting in its successful landing on the local best-seller list. Eighteen books later, came "Andrew Comes Home (2015)," winner of five major awards, including the Grand Prize in the Dixie Kane Classic. If you’re looking to start out reading my books, I recommend this one, Southern literature with a touch of romance. I’ve now published 31 of my own books.
Raising my children, I adored reading juvenile literature, knowing someday I'd produce my own. Using photos I've taken on my travels, I produced photo-illustrated children's books. My first children’s photo-book, “Consuto and the Rain God,” set in China, tells a fable based on a Rain God. "Ndovu the Elephant," follows a baby elephant cavorting on the Serengeti in Kenya, and "Bill the Blue-Footed Boobie," gives a photo-tale set in the Galapagos Islands. For older children, I created the delightfully funny "Princess Priscilla" series, and for my grandson, and other three-year-olds, I have “Clark’s Train Birthday.”
My eclectic writing genres include Mississippi history, a collection of my father's poetry, and an historical fiction, "Altered Perspectives," two Old testament tales from my Jewish upbringing.
Besides my own writing, I'm dedicated to promoting others interested in the craft. Serving as president of the Gulf Coast Writers Association from 2005-2017, I was the editor of the writing group’s magazine “Magnolia Quarterly,” produced their yearly anthology, organized large writing conferences, and secured monthly lecturers. For twenty months in 2018-2019, I hosted a weekly television show, “Meet the Authors,” on Ocean7. These 80 + interviews, plus a slew of other interesting shows are available on my YouTube channel: search under my name Philip Levin. I’ve edited and published over a dozen books for other authors as well.
I love traveling and documenting my travels with photography, blogs, and YouTube videos. I have over 100 videos, including author interviews, tours of various sites around the country and the world, and some medical and literary ones.
Please contact me at writerpllevin@gmail.com. I edit and publish books for other authors. I'm available to give lectures to library groups or writing clubs. Or we can discuss my books or your own writing ambition. And, please subscribe to my blog, found on this website, and my YouTube video channel.