Focus less on age and looks, more on soul and creativity. Oh, beauty … what a dizzying divide you are! As one gets older, especially in the creative fields, you can find yourself burdened by absurd and impossible obligations to “stay young, always be pretty, invest in your attractiveness.” The cosmetic surgery field has literally exploded based on that mandate. But while it’s good to stay fit and present yourself with pride, our culture is obsessed with glorifying youth — its beauty, its vibrancy, its vigor — at the expense of honoring and appreciating what age, experience, and wisdom can offer. Mentors and handlers expected me to keep up with the youth and beauty zeitgeist in order to remain viable, but I struggled, as most female creatives do, as I got older and began “aging out” of various aspects of my career. Deadly, if you’re not prepared for that. I wasn’t. It hurt. Focusing less on the physical, more on the creative, intellectual, soul-evolving, and meaningful is a lesson that should start early. It’s lifesaving.
As part of my series about “authors who are making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lorraine Devon Wilke.
An accomplished writer in several genres of the medium, Lorraine Devon Wilke has built an eclectic library of expertly crafted work: launching her “arts + politics” blog, Rock+Paper+Music in 2010, she became a popular contributor to HuffPost and other media sites, she currently maintains a column at Medium and a popular Substack (Musings of a Creative Loudmouth), and her award-winning novels include Chick Singer (Sibylline Press, 2025), The Alchemy of Noise (She Writes Press, 2019), Hysterical Love (2015), and After the Sucker Punch (2014). Landing in Los Angeles with an early band, Devon Wilke lives with her husband, attorney/writer, Pete Wilke, where she continues to sing rock & roll in between writing sessions.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?
Originally from the Midwest, I was born in Chicago, grew up in small towns in northern Illinois, and am the third oldest of eleven kids in a family that held responsibility, family contribution, and creativity in equal and high regard. Both my parents grew up in Chicago, which imbued them with a love of music, art, theater, and books, and they were committed to raising kids with an appreciation for the same. Music was everywhere, we read voraciously (spent a decade or so without a TV); we put on basement shows and backyard carnivals, and, given our embrace of all things artistic, each of us emerged from our childhoods with a wide range of creative proclivities. I majored in theater at the University of Illinois, then hit the road with a rock & roll band, ultimately landing in Los Angeles where I happily remain.
When you were younger, was there a book that you read that inspired you to take action or changed your life? Can you share a story about that?
It’s almost a cliché at this point, but reading To Kill a Mockingbird as a young girl growing up in a homogenous town in the Midwest left me shaken and moved by its story of racial injustice. I was fortunate to have open-minded parents who truly lived by the mandate that “we are all created equal,” but there was no diversity in my town, church, or school environments, so my understanding of what BIPOC experienced or were impacted by was negligible. Reading Harper Lee’s book opened my eyes, provoked my outrage, and, as I grew up and pursued my own creativity, compelled me to focus on social justice as an ongoing topic of exploration and action, certainly in my writing.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I don’t know if “funny” is a word I’d ascribe to any of my mistakes, but ridiculous comes to mind with this one: When I was just starting out as a singer, I worked with a band that was on the road consistently, and the man with whom I was involved didn’t appreciate that. Somehow (I’ll put it to my youth and naivete) I let this person talk me into quitting the band to work with him in a sales company … I know; what was I thinking?! Within a week I knew I’d made a grievous error as, not only did I miss singing terribly, but I was a truly horrible salesperson.
When the band discovered their new singer wouldn’t work over the holidays (in Aspen and Vail … go figure!) and entreaties were made to me about coming back, despite my boyfriend’s clear disapproval, I leapt at the chance and never looked back. It ultimately contributed to the end of my relationship, but what I learned and have held close since is that no one should be allowed to talk you out of your dreams. Anyone who tries is not in your corner, not looking out for your best interests, and, ultimately, can’t truly know you or grasp what you want from your life. It became clear that the essential elements of my identity, my ambitions, my goals and dreams were and are non-negotiable. Good philosophy to embrace at an early age.
Can you describe how you aim to make a significant social impact with your books?
“A poem cannot stop a bullet. A novel can’t defuse a bomb. But we are not helpless. We can sing the truth and name the liars.” This quote by Salman Rushdie is my mandate, my motto.
It’s true that to make “significant social impact,” one has to have a huge canvas, a wide audience; far-reaching influence. Independent artists such as me tend to play to smaller circles, but still, impact can be had, sometimes more than we know and with whatever size audience we can reach.
As a novelist, essayist, and songwriter, I approach my themes and subject matter with an eye toward exploring meaningful ideas, making a point; touching a nerve, asserting a belief, or provoking a thought. Even with fiction or song lyrics, you can entertain and intrigue, make someone smile or get up and dance, but still … they can be moved. My creative impulse is always to dig a little deeper into human stories and emotions; the issues, events, and relationships that impact their choices, the twists and turns of their journeys, to hopefully inspire something in the person listening or reading. A producer once told me my song lyrics were “like little movies,” and I appreciated the perspective! As for my books:
My first novel, After the Sucker Punch, follows a young woman’s life in the year after being devastated by her late father’s written words about her. It dives into issues of self-awareness, domestic violence, cult indoctrination, and religious conflict, all matters that come with heavy social impacts, compelling readers to explore their own thoughts and ideas on those subjects.
My next, Hysterical Love, explores a man’s redefinition of his life: his view of himself, his relationships and creativity; his understanding of family and love, in funny but often heartbreaking juxtaposition against a bombastic, overwhelming parent. My desire to pull apart the impact of families, judgment, and love on our own images of ourselves was a major component of this book.
My third, The Alchemy of Noise, is the novel that would most likely be defined as having social impact. Informed by my own experiences and observations, this contemporary love story explores the gap between two Americas, as an interracial couple’s new relationship endures police profiling and rebukes from family and friends, but is ultimately shaken to the core when an arrest has them questioning what they really know of each other and just whom to trust. This book sparked myriad conversations with both readers and media, with an invitation to NPR’s 1A show to discuss culture and fiction. I had both white and Black readers debate elements of the plot, the characters, my “right” to write it as a white author, but mostly it was met with tremendous response, including statements by white readers claiming it opened their eyes, and Black readers who appreciated the sensitivity of the story.
My most recent, Chick Singer, jumps right into the social impacts of aging (particularly as a woman), as well as fractured families, difficult relationships with grown children, and the power and pain of creativity and what happens when we give it up … or it’s pulled from us without our permission. This story resonates with a lot of women in both its narrative and message about reinventing oneself even in the face of old pain and new challenges.
Can you share with us the most interesting story that you shared in your book?
I’ll pick an emotional moment from my most recent novel, Chick Singer: Having walked away from her burgeoning career as a singer, inexplicably and at a very young age, the protagonist, Libby Conlin, has built a life over the last thirty years that bears no resemblance to the one she dreamed for herself. When unexpected circumstances abruptly push her back into her identity as an artist, the role she relinquished and refused to ever revisit, she’s suddenly caught between the divorced, middle-aged, seeing-a-new-guy bookkeeper she is now, and the intoxicating remnants of another time, another world, another her … and it pulls her feet out from under her. I think the conundrum given this character, one I’ve seen reflected in the lives of some I know, is interesting: that just when she might be able to recapture some semblance of her dream, the pain of what she lost and what now, as a woman in her fifties, she can never truly have, overwhelms her. Where she goes from there is a compelling journey, the kind many of us face as we get older and have to reimagine our ways forward.
What was the “aha moment” or series of events that made you decide to bring your message to the greater world? Can you share a story about that?
When I was young, I was mesmerized by music. I’d lie on the floor of my room, an album sleeve of lyrics in my hand, reading and singing along, engrossed in the stories being told, the messages woven into the words. The singers I loved were the ones who’d be considered “singer/songwriters,” “musical storytellers,” artists whose words were as important (if not more so) than the music or the production. Many of those songs not only inspired me but made me feel I wasn’t alone in my particular heartaches or confusions; some stoked my activism; some pushed me to get involved with social movements. So when it was my turn to create — songs, articles, books — I tapped into those days in my bedroom, being moved and inspired by other artists, and emulated them. I want those listening to or reading my words to be just as moved and inspired as I was back then.
Without sharing specific names, can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your cause?
Given that I believe fiction can inform, educate, inspire, and transform, I always appreciate when I hear from readers that the messages imbued in my novels have impacted them in some way, or offered a new way of looking at things, or educated them to aspects of humanity, of other people, other races, other causes that they hadn’t considered prior. After my first novel, After the Sucker Punch, came out, a man left a review that is one of my favorites because it let me know my objectives for the story had been achieved … and there’s nothing much better than that!
“I just finished Sucker Punch… this is a beautifully written work that is going to help me in my lifelong quest to understand women. Tessa is a complex character that exhibits behaviors I have actually witnessed, and now I have some understanding; previously it remained a mystery. I think most men would very much want to know what women are thinking, and after reading this novel, I don’t have all the answers, but I’m getting there. The story is populated by very complex and interesting characters who will remain with me for a long time. Highly recommended.”
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
As I watch conservative politics creep into every area of all three — community, society and politicians — resulting in regressions like the recission of women’s reproductive rights, the whitewashing of American history, the clamping down on freedoms of countless marginalized communities, the federalization of troops in American cities, I feel the urge to shake people up, shatter their preconceived ideas to learn something new and important, about life, people, events; human emotion, so they can do something to help change their fates. Yes, even fiction can do that … I’ve certainly become more aware via novels I’ve read. As for three things that can be done toward that goal:
- Get politically and culturally activated, for your own reasons and to engage, particularly younger, voters, to get them registered, educated on the policies, propositions, and people running. We are seeing the deleterious effects of voter apathy, grievance, and abdication, and we are all suffering because of it. That must change.
- An emphasis on empathy. When we have opinion leaders in the current administration saying empathy is a “fundamental weakness” of Western civilization, it’s time to reset. Children are naturally empathetic and it’s the loss of that trait, that skill, that leads to hate, fear, bigotry, and discrimination. Teaching empathy in homes, schools, churches, and certainly in our stories and books, is essential. My own books feature empathy as a throughline, as it’s always part of any literary statement I’m making. In fact, empathy is the antidote to everything.
- Get HONEST. We are living at a time when mendacity and the twisting of truth and reality have become the norm, particularly in our leaders, and this moral failure is a pervasive component of insensitivity, discord, backward thinking, and, of course, hate. Amplifying the value of truth, the integrity of honesty, in whatever work one does is essential. My work is writing, creativity. Honesty is endemic to creativity. It should be endemic in every arena of life.
How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
Leadership is stepping up, regardless of one’s fear or discomfort, to create positive change, to right a wrong, assert an innovation, speak out against corruption. The banner on my Substack page, Musings of a Creative Loudmouth, illustrates a favorite quote of mine: “Speak the truth, even if your voice shakes.” These are the words of the late Maggie Kuhn, an American activist who founded the Gray Panthers, fighting against ageism and for social justice. Given that she didn’t leap into this role until she was forced out of her job at age 65, then worked tirelessly for those causes, I can think of no one who better defines the word “leadership.”
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.
- Listen to the voice that’s your own. When first starting out, there’s always the push/pull of taking advice and following instructions versus holding true to what you know about and for yourself. I had so many people — managers, agents, financiers, producers — telling me everything from how to wear my hair to what to say in between songs, from inspiring me to write, then correcting and mercilessly criticizing my words, that I finally snapped. It took a minute, but I eventually concluded that I had to define myself — my artistic goals, my identity, my worldview — and then honor that. Yes, have the humility and openness to learn from others, to glean what you can from experts, journeymen, teachers, and mentors, but ultimately … listen to the voice that’s your own.
- Set goals but release expectations. This one got me into some emotional trouble. I was so driven to achieve my goals as an artist and so convinced I would — with expectations and presumed outcomes as high as the sky — that when things didn’t turn out quite as expected, heartache followed. I was so certain, so convinced, of where I was going, where I would end up, that when life took other turns, I had to learn how to not only adapt but ultimately accept, even applaud, where I’d landed. Moral of the story: important to differentiate between goals/dreams versus expectations/ outcomes. The former is all your own; the latter you have little control over. Be open to the unexpected journeys and surprise destinations.
- Be selective about who you let into your circle. After allowing certain people into my life who appeared influential, experienced, and dedicated only to discover they were narcissistic, inept, sometimes unhinged, occasionally criminal (there were drugs), I quickly adjusted my due diligence practices to hold to a higher standard, to dig deeper when promises were made or compliments were showered. Age helps with that; we get less needy of accolades and more demanding of follow-through; less interest in drama and hijinks, more valuing of stalwartness, ethics, and dependability. I am very, very selective these days!
- Focus less on age and looks, more on soul and creativity. Oh, beauty … what a dizzying divide you are! As one gets older, especially in the creative fields, you can find yourself burdened by absurd and impossible obligations to “stay young, always be pretty, invest in your attractiveness.” The cosmetic surgery field has literally exploded based on that mandate. But while it’s good to stay fit and present yourself with pride, our culture is obsessed with glorifying youth — its beauty, its vibrancy, its vigor — at the expense of honoring and appreciating what age, experience, and wisdom can offer. Mentors and handlers expected me to keep up with the youth and beauty zeitgeist in order to remain viable, but I struggled, as most female creatives do, as I got older and began “aging out” of various aspects of my career. Deadly, if you’re not prepared for that. I wasn’t. It hurt. Focusing less on the physical, more on the creative, intellectual, soul-evolving, and meaningful is a lesson that should start early. It’s lifesaving.
- Don’t expect others to do things the way you do. For some reason it took me a very long time to grasp this idea. Even after the 2000th time someone didn’t return an email, acknowledge a text, or respond to a voicemail, I’d still wail, “I would never do that to them! Why can’t they be that way!?” It took years to fully let go of expectations that because I was vigilant about correspondence, or arrived at appointments on time, or knew all my lines, or could be counted on to fulfill a commitment, not everybody else was! My aggravation and resentment of this fact have led to some stressful moments, but I have now better embraced the acceptance that not everybody does things the way I do, “so don’t expect them to!” If it’s too annoying to deal with the ways people do do the things they do, find other people with whom to do them. Does that make sense? ☺
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Nina Simone said, “An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times.”
I agree. Which means I believe authors, and artists of every medium, should be fearless in their approach to their art: the songs they sing, the stories they tell, the characters they create, the memoirs they convey, or the self-empowerment books they write. Reflecting the times, sparking thought and action, can come from any category of art, of literature, of creativity, and that goal is one I live by and will always promote to artists dedicated and courageous enough to put their work out into the world, fearlessly and ferociously … and regardless of whether or not their voice shakes (thank you, Maggie Kuhn).
Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
At the moment, given my full-body immersion in her music, my admiration for her talent, my deep appreciation for the way she uses her creative currency to advocate for racial and social justice, personal rights across several categories, and mental and emotional health awareness, all supported by her active and ongoing contributions in those arenas including her Born This Way Foundation, I’d be honored to spend some one-on-one time with Lady Gaga, (aka: Stefani Germanotta).
How can our readers further follow your work online?
They can always visit my website @ https://lorrainedevonwilke.com/, and for easy access to all my online platforms, my Linktree is the way to go: https://linktr.ee/lorrainedevonwilke
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
And thank you for your interest in me and my work. I hope your readers enjoy the conversation!
Social Impact Authors: How & Why Author Lorraine Devon Wilke Is Helping To Change Our World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.