Ernestine Whitman

Ernestine Whitman began her career as a flutist in the Atlanta Symphony, the youngest and one of the few women. Her passion for teaching brought her to Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, where she was the flute professor for thirty-three years. When an injury ended her performing career, she took up martial arts in her sixties, earning black belts in TaeKwon Do and Karate. An advocate for restorative justice, she volunteers for programs in several Wisconsin prisons. In retirement she began writing nonfiction, which has appeared in Herstry, Jaden, Persimmon Tree, Postscript, Six Hens and The Ravens Perch. Her memoir Countermelodies (September, 2024), won the 2024 NYC Big Book and 2026 Indie Reader Discovery awards in Memoir.