Jul 8, 2021

Another Look at Life as an Alt-Ac

A Discussion with Erica Bauermeister

Erica Bauermeister

Hosted by Christina Gessler

Summary

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN.

In this episode you’ll hear about: Dr. Erica Bauermeister’s career journey out of academia, her move to Italy and back to the US, how she unexpectedly found herself renovating a house, and a discussion of the book House Lessons.

Our guest is: Erica Bauermeister, who earned her PhD at the University of Washington. She was frustrated by the lack of women authors in the curriculum, and in response co-authored 500 Great Books by Women: A Reader’s Guide, and Let’s Hear it For The Girls. She taught writing and literature, got married and had children and left academia. She became a Realtor, moved to Italy, moved back to the US, continued writing, and then unexpectedly found herself renovating a house. Erica’s first novel was published as she was turning 50. Her books have been translated into more than 50 languages, been selected for Reese Witherspoon’s book club, and made the USA Today and NYT bestseller list.

Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Christina once helped renovate a cottage on a small island off the coast of Massachusetts.

Listeners to this episode might be interested in:

House Lessons: Renovating a Life, by Erica Bauermeister
The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister
500 Great Books by Women: A Reader’s Guide by Holly Smith, Jesse Larsen, and Erica Bauermeister
The Business of Being a Writer, by Jane Friedman
Storycraft, by Jack Hart
Wordcraft, by Jack Hart
Save the Cat, by Blake Snyder
Leaving Academia: A Practical Guide by Christopher Caterine