During this mini episode we turn the Authors Spotlight onto Lukas Klessig and his book “Words With My Father: A Bipolar Journey Through Turbulent Times”.

Words With My Father offers a gripping portrait of the evolution of a young man's mental illness and how it manifested into a dramatic and often dangerous existence through the turbulence of the Civil Rights, Peace and Conservation movements.

Lowell Klessig's posthumously-released story, infused with reflections by his son Lukas, provides an intimate window into one man's life in flux with bipolar disorder. As the author narrates a postwar upbringing and describes the manic-depressive travails of developing his identity, he offers us a view into the turmoil of the times - and of his mind.

Through mania- and danger-filled months fighting for Civil Rights, protesting the Vietnam War and furthering the Conservation Movement, we see the purpose that sustained him. Through darkened panes, we witness the isolation and malaise of depressive winters that nearly took his life. This masterful chronicle allows us to peer into a restless and kinetic existence in one moment and a chasm of fatigue and hopelessness on the next page.

It's an account that will change your perspective. It's a bipolar journey that you won't ever forget.

Discussion Points:

• Why we should read their book


• A different kind a mental health memoir


• How the book is presented


• Lukas’s fathers last wish


• Past stigma about mental health


• Civil rights movement


• Vietnam war and environmental activism


• Reach out to Lukas at lukas@wordswithmyfather.com

Mentioned on this episode of Book Interrupted:

Book Interrupted Website

Book Interrupted YouTube Channel

Book Interrupted Facebook Book Club Group

Lukas’s website: Words With My Father

Words With My Father: A Bipolar Journey Through Turbulent Times by Lukas Klessig and Lowell Klessig

Audio Book