Kate Mulgrew Talks Science, Science Fiction, and the Power of Words

Courtesy Kate Mulgrew

With countless film, television, and stage roles to her name, a successful résumé as an audiobook narrator, and a New York Times bestseller under her belt, it’s safe to say Kate Mulgrew has a storied career in the entertainment industry. Perhaps best known for her roles as the iconic Captain Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager and the pragmatic yet passionate Galina “Red” Reznikov in Orange Is the New Black, she published her second memoir, How to Forget, in May 2019.

Mulgrew, who originally hails from the Midwest—Dubuque, Iowa, to be exact—will be making her way to the Twin Cities this month to emcee this year’s Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library Opus & Olives gala, an annual fundraising event that benefits not only St. Paul’s libraries themselves but also a range of local literacy programs supported by the libraries and the Pioneer Press. Some 900 attendees, Mulgrew, and fellow best-selling writers Mark Bowden, Jennifer Chiaverini, Maaza Mengiste, and Chris Pavone will be taking over the RiverCentre on October 13. If you’d like to lend your support and have the opportunity to meet the featured authors, tickets are still available.

In anticipation of this upcoming appearance, Mulgrew agreed to talk with me by phone about a range of topics, including her recent book, audio narration, her thoughts on space exploration, and her legacy as Captain Janeway.

She is no stranger to the Twin Cities. Mulgrew has done work with the University of Minnesota hospitals and has a close friendship with Dr. Karen Ashe, a preeminent scientist in the field of Alzheimer’s research, and her husband, Jim Ashe. “I do whatever fundraising I can for them,” she explained, “and I’ve often been to the University of Minnesota to speak.” Alongside this connection, Mulgrew notes she has a certain affinity for the Midwest and enjoys every chance she has to get back to the region. “There’s just something, I don’t know—if you’re from the Midwest, you just know your own kind. They’re a decent flock, all of them.”

In How to Forget, she paints a detailed, tumultuous, honest, and at times humorous picture of the lives of her mother and father. Weaving together the narratives of her time caring for them in their final days and their lives as parents, as a couple, and as individuals simply navigating the world as they saw it, Mulgrew tells an incredibly human story that explores the boundaries of family, love, and legacy. Writing a book such as this is obviously a deeply personal endeavor, and Mulgrew provided the narration for the audiobook version as well.

“In having done the first book, Born with Teeth, I knew this would be challenging,” she explained. “And it was—because of the deeply personal nature of the material, but also because it was the first time that I had read it out loud. Despite the fact that I was sitting alone in a recording booth somewhere in Manhattan, it didn’t alter the fact that I was feeling the weight of those words for the first time. And sometimes it was a little overwhelming, and often disturbing, and almost always quite emotional. But that’s alright; I wanted to fuse the language with the emotion rather than let the emotion run rampant, and I hope that comes across.”

William Morrow

While narrating one’s own memoirs is a unique experience unto itself, Mulgrew has stepped into the recording booth for a number of other projects. Besides her own books, she’s provided narration for multiple Joe Hill novels (including NOS4A2 and The Fireman); A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: The Poetry of Mister Rogers; and, more recently, the Audible original The Space Race, published in July of this year.

About this last project, Mulgrew said, “It’s very important to remember all that we have done to ensure that our relationship to space and to all things having to do with space continues to grow and that we nurture it. . . . I fear that under this current administration we’re going to lose some of that, so I wanted to lend my voice to a project that I thought was particularly worthwhile under these current political circumstances.”

Digging a bit deeper into this topic, she expressed her thoughts on where she believes we as a global community need to go in regards to the future of space travel: “I think we have to learn to work more closely together . . . I understand that it’s competitive, but as long as it’s friendly and lends itself to the process of exploring space, I’m happy with it.” She added, “This needs to be an international affair. We need to come together as a single community in terms of reaching space because it is, of course—as we all understand it to be—limitless, and therefore we must lend all of our skills, both collectively and individually, to a mutual goal.”

Paramount

In discussing space, our conversation inevitably shifted to Mulgrew’s time as Captain Janeway and her lasting legacy in the Star Trek community. She noted that in prepping for filming, she often found herself studying the works of Richard Feynman and Albert Einstein to get a firmer grasp on the technology-heavy lines.

“This technobabble is very, very clinical, and if you don’t learn what you’re saying, it will fall badly,” she said. “So I studied . . . and I tried to make those connections as often as I possibly could so that when I opened my mouth in the middle of the bridge, I did not look like a complete caricature myself.”

While taking on a role that catapults you directly into the spotlight of a large and passionate fan base is undoubtedly a great challenge, Mulgrew is proud of her place in the franchise and the impact she’s been able to have in playing the character. “It’s the gift that keeps on giving, the gift of an international and devoted fan base—fans that I find superior in intelligence and decency and grounded in a love of science, a love of the unknown and exploration. The most impact I think I had [was] on women in science, which to this day not only resonates but it’s the single most gratifying component, I think, of having the great privilege of playing that part.”

With the the upcoming series Star Trek: Picard in development and already set to bring back several iconic characters from past franchises, I asked whether there is any possibility we will see Captain Janeway grace our screens once more. “I would say never say never, and never say die,” she said. “But they haven’t asked! I think it would be good to gather those of us still living into some kind of a movie or something . . . [That] would be quite something, don’t you think?”

Authors and readers meet at a past Opus & Olives gala. Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library

In wrapping up our conversation, Mulgrew explained that she wanted to leave readers with one lasting message: “I hope that everybody goes to the library and everybody reads, because reading is the key to happiness. It’s the key to freedom. Hail to all libraries! Let’s keep them alive and well for as long as we can.”

The Opus & Olives gala will take place at the Saint Paul RiverCentre on Sunday, October 13. Online ticket sales close Wednesday, October 9.