James Kilgore was a 1960s political activist in California, ultimately becoming involved with the Symbionese Liberation Army. In 1975, he fled a Federal explosives charge and remained a fugitive for 27 years. During that time he rejected the politics of small group violence, and built a life as an educator, researcher, activist, parent, and partner in southern Africa. In 2002 he was arrested in Cape Town, and served six and a half years in California prisons. While incarcerated he wrote Prudence Couldn’t Swim, as well as We Are All Zimbabweans Now (Umuzi, 2009), and Freedom Never Rests (Jacana, 2011). Kilgore presently lives in Illinois with his wife and sons. He is a Research Scholar in the Center for African Studies at the University of Illinois.
