Kaia M Gallagher (She/her)

An Estonian-American, Kaia Gallagher has recovered her family's World War II history in "Candles for the Defiant," a family memoir. This gripping narrative recounts the little-known history regarding how the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania found themselves caught between the territorial ambitions of Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler.  Kaia has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of California Riverside, as well as a Ph.D. in Sociology from Brown University. "Candles for the Defiant" is her debut novel.

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Indie Author Experience - Adult Fiction and Nonfiction Pavilion

Indie Authors - Adult Fiction and Nonfiction (Seats 28)  
Sat, Mar 14, 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Authors: Riley Andrews, Michael Ballard, Deborah Derrickson Kossmann, Kaia Gallagher, Mignon Gardner, Lizzy Gayle, Gregory Harmon, Ray Harris, Laura Jenski, Andrea Leeb, Lezlee Liljenberg, Lisa MacDonald, L. L. Madrid, Robin Merle, Linda Moore, Hugo Moreno, Holly Morgan, Melissa Naatz, Francis Gary Powers Jr, Judith Rooney, Suzanne Samuels, Becki Stockton, Ashley Sweeney, Karissa Thomas, Russell Vanderboom, R. Weir, Jean Widner

Book:

Candles for the Defiant

Discovering My Family's Estonian Past
Memoir / Essays / Creative Nonfiction
Atterberry Press
March 2024
ISBN 9798989203604
286 pages
The author will make this book available for sale at the Author Pavilion during the Festival.

During her search to learn more about her family’s Estonian past, Kaia uncovers the efforts of a would-be uncle, who resisted the Soviet occupation of Estonia during World War II only to later be condemned as a traitor and a spy when Estonia was occupied by the Germans in 1942. This timely story of Baltic patriotism offers a compelling, less-well-known account of what happened in Estonia during World War II as well as a sobering lesson regarding the volatile political situation in Eastern Europe. More/less