Mimi Nichter on Finding the Courage to Tell Your Story

Memoir Nation: Weekly Inspiration for Writers is an extension of the Memoir Nation community hosted by Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner, two friends and colleagues who bring a community-minded sensibility to the writing journey. Originally launched as Write-minded in 2018, this is a weekly writing podcast that focuses on memoir and personal writing, as well as industry trends and tips and resources for writers and authors.

This week, guest Mimi Nichter brings us a unique opportunity to talk about the courage—and many years—it sometimes takes to tell the story you must write. In Mimi’s case, it took 50 years. In 1970, Mimi was on Trans World Airlines Flight 741 when it got rerouted from Tel Aviv to to Jordan after it was hijacked by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Her memoir, Hostage: A Memoir of Terrorism, Trauma, and Resilience, is a recounting, a compassionate examination of the human lives at the center of this event, and a courageous act, given the political moment when so many are troubled by being forced to take sides in a political conflict where there is only loss and losers. This is an important story that took years to tell—and this week’s show grapples with how many stories like Mimi’s are out there, yet untold, and again marvels at the value of memoir as a vehicle of truth and witness.

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Mimi Nichter is a cultural and medical anthropologist, public speaker, and a professor emerita of anthropology at the University of Arizona. She is the author or coauthor of four anthropology-related books and the recipient of the Margaret Mead Award and the George Foster Practicing Medical Anthropology Award. Her essays have appeared in HuffPost, Newsweek, and Brevity. Her brand-new memoir, Hostage: A Memoir of Terrorism, Trauma, and Resilience, was a finalistic for the the Tucson festival of books literary award for nonfiction.