Activist and author Kit Bakke didn’t start writing seriously until after 50 when the events of 9-11 motivated her to begin. She talks about her first book, Mrs. Alcott’s E-mail, her recent book, Protest on Trial, and how she made the turn to writing. We also talk about her activist past and the power of dissent in a democracy.
Kit was once a part of the radical student movement during the Vietnam War days and was part of the more extreme group, the Weatherman. She later became a mother, a nurse, and a health management consultant. Unlike many authors, she hadn’t dreamed of becoming a writer all of her life. But now in her early seventies, she has three published books and she’s still going strong!
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Highlights and quotes from the episode:
How Kit turned to history to uncover a woman who helped make American great.
The sides to Louisa May Alcott you may not know.
How Kit’s radical and activist past has found a role in her work.
Why dissent in a free society is so important.
How Kit began writing and how you don’t need to have defined yourself as a writer, in your early years, to be able to start writing after fifty.
“For a democracy to remain healthy, there has to be dissent. Many of the best things that have happened to the American democrary…originated in one or two squeaky people.”
“I wanted people today to appreciate dissent at various levels and to feel OK about engaging in it themselves.”
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More about our guest:
Kit Bakke was active in Students for a Democratic Society at Bryn Mawr College and later Weatherman, participating in anti-war and anti-capitalism actions around the country. Born and raised in Seattle, she was a pediatric oncology nurse, and now works as an independent writer and consultant, and supports local philanthropic organizations focused on human services and education. To write “Protest on Trial,” she conducted dozens of personal interviews with six defendants; their attorneys; FBI agents; journalists; jurors; the U.S. Marshal; and SLF members, supporters, and critics. She also accessed the trial transcript, appeals briefs and depositions, newspaper and magazine articles, pamphlets and other ephemera of the times, as well as memoirs and books.
The Show Notes
Learn more about Kit at KitBakke.com.
Read her books:
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