SOURCE: “Grace Paley,” in The Progressive, Vol. 61, No. 11, November, 1997, pp. 36-9.

In the following interview, Paley discusses her family and formative influences, and her career as a writer and activist.

It’s August 6 in Thetford Hill, Vermont, and before the sun has dried the mist on the Green Mountains, Grace Paley is out at a Hiroshima Day vigil. Friends, family, and neighbors are there, too. So are a couple of dozen kids from a nearby camp. The protesters turn handmade peace signs toward passing cars and trucks. Some toot hello while others work hard not to notice. “We used to be very strict and yell at people if they laughed,” Paley tells one of the campers. But when a trucker honks and waves, she says brightly, “Maybe the world will change.”

From her home in Vermont, her principal residence for the past several years, Paley maintains a busy...