Young Author Explores Burden of Intellect

Senior Katie Nunn has long been devoted to writing. Though currently college supplemental essays demand most of her attention, Nunn remains devoted to fiction writing despite the fact that she has other priorities. Nunn believes she is “a more creative person” and is much more inclined to observing than interacting, which is why she is so drawn to the writing process.

Her latest story, she said, is about people. “What I was last working on was about a group of friends who are in trouble –one of them is off on this, like, suicidal rampage. They’re all in Berkeley, and it’s kind of this whole commentary about how we kind of view certain people as perfect, or really smart, and they end up being this entirely different person,” said Nunn. Each character represents something that’s really with wrong with society, and really wrong with intelligence. It’s this commentary on really highly intelligent people and institutions that really encourage that.”

Nunn drew from the themes of isolation found in books like The Catcher in the Rye, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Nunn recognizes that writing, as well as reading, is key to understanding the world, and that gaining perspective can greatly impact society. “It’s not even the act of writing,” said Nunn. “It’s the act of other people reading and opening their minds to that world.”

Social justice has also impacted Nunn’s writing. “I think it’s played into my life, a big part. I think in expressing myself, and expressing life, and who I am is more a part of my writing rather than social justice. I can’t speak for everyone’s story,” she said. “So like, I can’t write about how people have been wronged by the foster care system accurately –I can only write to my experience. I think it’s mostly a personal thing, for me, and then I take that, and get inspired with other novels, and connect it to a fictional sense.”

Nunn said that writing is also how she explains who she is. “Writing is a way to express yourself, so you can make sense of what’s going on around you. It’s like a documentation. People can read Anne Frank’s diary, and can understand what she’s going through and connect with it. That’s a way that writing has influenced society. People write diaries so they can get out their own feelings, and that influences what they do, so it’s not all hoarded up inside of them, and I think that influences other people.”

“I think [writing] gives broader perspectives to people. If you read a book, and you say ‘Oh wow, I didn’t know anything about these people before.’ A book brings that to light,” said Nunn.

Nunn believes that by reading only one perspective, one can’t see the whole picture. Her fiction helps to reveal another.