Gretchen Dykstra

Gretchen Dykstra helped make New York City’s government more equitable, cleaned up Times Square, dropped the ball and confetti on New Year's Eve, regulated small businesses, defended consumers, got the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum Foundation off the ground, and then wrote a biography of her grandfather, one of America's early song catchers. As a writer-in-residence at the NYPL, she then published with University of Wisconsin Press Civic Pioneers: Local Stories from a Changing America, 1895-1915 about innovative municipal leaders around the country. In 2022 Atmosphere Press published Echoes from Wuhan: The Past as Prologue, her memoir about teaching in China (1979-1981) as an employee of the China government. University Press of KY will release her next book in September 2024: Lessons from the Foothills: Berea College and Its Unique Role in America.