Judith Nies

A heartfelt memoir and piercing social commentary, this work recounts one courageous woman’s journey towards independence, and evaluates the impact of the 1960s feminist movement on the women who created it and the next generation.

PEN New EnglandReadings at the Hotel MarloweJudith Nies is a teacher, historian, essayist, and author of three books including Nine Women: Portraits from the American Radical Tradition, first published in 1977 and continually in print ever since, and Native American History: A Chronology Her most recent ... (more)book is The Girl I Left Behind: A Narrative History of the 1960s'. Her writing has appeared in national media and literary journals including the New York Times, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Ms., Harvard Review, Women’s Review of Books, and the Radcliffe Quarterly. Honors include a Bunting Fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute, a Bellagio award from the Rockefeller Foundation, a grant from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, and residencies at MacDowell, Yaddo and Mesa Refuge artists’ colonies. Born in Boston, she grew up in Swampscott, and currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Please note: this is an off-site event to be held at the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, MA. Directions to the Hotel Marlowe. For info or questions, contact: Emily Hiestand, / 617-497-1225. About PEN New England PEN New England is an organization of writers and all those who love the written word. Our mission is to advance the cause of literature in New England and defend freedom of expression everywhere. PEN New England is one of five regional branches of PEN American Center, and part of International PEN, the oldest human rights organization in the world, and also the oldest international literary organization. PEN NE is honored to collaborate with the Marlowe Hotel and Porter Square Books to produce the PEN-Marlowe Reading Series, now in its fourth year. The monthly reading series is programmed by two PEN NE board members and award-winning authors: fiction writer, Edith Pearlman, and essayist/photographer, Emily Hiestand. For more information, visit the PEN New England website.

At the height of the Vietnam War protests, Judith Nies held “the most interesting job in Washington” as the chief staff assistant to a core group of anti-war congressmen. A graduate of John Hopkins School of Advance International Studies (SAIS) with an impressive international resume, Nies had everything ... (more)she needed to succeed in Washington except for one obvious characteristic: she was the wrong gender.
In The Girl I Left Behind: A Narrative History of the 1960’s and How Women Transformed America, Nies chronicles her struggle to cope with and finally overcome the limited opportunities for women in society and politics. Shocked to find herself the focus of an FBI investigation due to her political activities, Nies traded in her role as a dutiful wife and marginalized employee to become one of a growing number of brave women who carved out a new path toward social reform.

Author Judith Nies, the chief staff assistant to a core group of anti-war congressmen during the height of the Vietnam War protests, will talk about her new book. The Girl I Left Behind is a compelling and perceptive biography for our current political landscape that presents the underpinnings ... (more)of the civil rights era in a fresh and personal way.

The author discusses and signs her new memoir. 202-364-1919.

"Refreshingly candid...Nies' personal take on the ripple effects of the women’s movement—both on those involved directly and those who followed--is honest and engaging."
Booklist

"An ... (more)important book. I know of no book like it."
Jill Ker Conway

author of The Road from Coorain

Judith Nies has worked as a journalist, teacher, historian, researcher, and speechwriter, and is the author of several books, including Nine Women: Portraits from the American Radical Tradition. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Christian Science Monitor, Ms., the Harvard Review, and other publications. She teaches writing at Massachusetts College of Art and is a member of PEN America. Nies lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.