Late Bloomer

Born in the shadow of World War II, Mary Lou Dickinson came of age in an era that expected women to conform?but she never did. A feminist writer of the Silent Generation, she carved her own path as a single mother in the 1970s, juggling multiple jobs to support herself and her children. Her life changed when she found solidarity in the women's movement, drawing earlier inspiration from Betty Friedan and later working to support survivors of assault. Though she had long published stories in literary magazines, it wasn't until the age of 70 that her first book was published, proving that it's never too late to claim ones voice.