Public Employee Press

Ken Markel: retiree and novelist

Ken Markel lived a life of passionate commitment as a public servant. Born in Brooklyn, he studied at New York University and worked for the Parks Dept. in Queens as a Recreation Director and Assistant Supervisor.

For 20 years, the Local 299 member taught pre-kindergarteners, started a volleyball team for their mothers, set up creative writing programs for seniors and served on Community Board 7. For teenagers, he built an organization with rap groups, basketball, break-dancing and more. In 1992, Markel retired and moved to the Berkshire Hills in Massachusetts to write.

His new novel, "White Perfume: A Twenty-First Century Love Story," revolves around the racial dimensions of his two main characters, who are drawn to each other despite obvious differences in their backgrounds. "There's a vast difference in treatment based on people's station in life, the way they look, and expectations. It tells a story that I think is true," Markel said.

As a poet and novelist, he enjoys having an audience as well as the satisfaction of creating fictional characters. He is now writing a work of fiction about a multigenerational family. "White Perfume" is available in the DC 37 Library in Room 201.