Meet S. Lucia Kanter St. Amour | VP Emerita, UN Women | Attorney | Acclaimed Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with S. Lucia Kanter St. Amour and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi S. Lucia, as a parent, what have you done for you children that you feel has had the most significant impact?
As the parent of a son with lifelong special needs, the most important thing I’ve done is model resilience and advocacy. My children have watched me navigate systems that aren’t designed for us — from education to healthcare to social services — and I’ve tried to show them that persistence, creativity, and compassion are powerful tools for change.

That lived experience has profoundly shaped me as both a person and a writer. The portrayal of special-needs parenting is almost invisible in contemporary fiction — especially in women’s stories — and that’s one of the reasons I included it with such honesty in The Covert Buccaneer, my newly released dual timeline historical fiction novel. Ellie, my modern-day protagonist, is a special-needs mom who faces the everyday perseverance and negotiations (small and large) that don’t make headlines but define real courage.

If my children have learned anything from me, I hope it’s that strength isn’t the absence of struggle — it’s what you build because of it.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Wow, that’s quite the compound question! Ok, here goes …
My art lives at the intersection of story and social impact. Whether I’m writing fiction, teaching negotiation to my law students, or supporting policy through UN Women, the thread that runs through everything I do is helping to offer voice to those who’ve been overlooked.

These efforts culminated in my most recent novel, The Covert Buccaneer, a dual-timeline historical fiction family saga and legal drama set in San Francisco. It weaves together themes of women’s autonomy, Indigenous displacement, climate migrant cases, and the caregiver economy — including the rarely depicted realities of special-needs parenting. I wanted to write a story that was as entertaining as it was honest, one that asks readers to reconsider whose stories have been erased and why.

Getting here wasn’t easy. I built my professional life as an attorney, mediator, and law professor while raising children and navigating systems that often made me feel stuck. Writing became both a refuge and a way to make sense of those experiences. Every rejection, every detour, strengthened my resolve to create something that mattered.

What I’ve learned is that persistence and curiosity are twin engines, and that art and advocacy aren’t opposites; they’re companions. My brand (if you will), at its core, is about bridging those worlds: proving that you can advocate for justice with the same tools you use to tell a story.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Well, San Francisco is a treasure trove, so we’d need some time (and we’d do a lot of walking). I’d start in the neighborhood six generations of my family have called home: North Beach. It’s the heart of old San Francisco. Day one would begin with cappuccini and cornetti at Caffe Trieste, where Beat poets once read and the espresso still tastes like counterculture. From there, we’d wander up to Coit Tower for the New Deal era murals and that view that never gets old, then down to Mario’s Bohemian Cigar Store for lunch — where the focaccia panini are melt-in-your-mouth good, the conversations buzzy, and the history runs deep.

One evening, I’d book us a table at Mona Lisa Mare e Monti, order Negronis, and let the whole vibe work its magic. Another night we’d head across the Bay for Ethiopian food near UC Berkeley, because you can’t visit me in the Bay Area and not visit the alma mater where I’m alumna, faculty, and now proud parent.

Midweek, we’d hike through the Presidio or Land’s End. We’d spend an afternoon exploring the Ferry Building, downtown POPOS, and farmers market. I’d insist on hanging out for a bit at the Garden Court at the Palace Hotel, the original “heart” of The Covert Buccaneer’s 1880s timeline — to see how the grandeur of the past still hums beneath the modern city.

We’d close the week with music and laughter: an evening at Club Fugazi or a North Beach jazz set where nobody cares what time it is. San Francisco, for me, is best experienced like that — a conversation between old and new, with a good meal and a fascinating story always waiting around the corner.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There’s a long list. None of us accomplish anything alone. But my shoutout goes first to my sons. Being their mother has been the most profound education of my life. Their unique way of seeing the world has reshaped how I understand patience, communication, and what real progress looks like. That perspective informs everything I do — from my work in law and mediation to the way I write characters in The Covert Buccaneer.

I also owe a debt to the many women who came before me — both in my family and in history — who did extraordinary things without acknowledgment. My great-great-grandfather left behind an unpublished diary that largely omitted the women from his grand life story, and it helped inspire The Covert Buccaneer. It’s the women in that lineage who truly drive the story. They remind me daily that courage isn’t necessarily loud; it’s cumulative.

And finally, I’m grateful for the community of colleagues and friends who show up — the ones who’ve been there when I fall and help pick me up and dust me off; and believe that art and advocacy can share the same heart.

Website: https://www.pactumfactum.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/santaluciasf/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luciakanterstamour/

Other: https://us.amazon.com/Covert-Buccaneer-Lucia-Kanter-Amour/dp/B0FCVRTYR6/