LAFAYETTE PARISH — Keith J. Nickerson has spent much of his life telling stories, long before he ever put them to paper.
“I look back and realize all my life I've been a storyteller, and for the first time God allowed me to pause and put it to pen and paper,” Nickerson said.
Raised by a single mother, Nickerson said his love for storytelling started early, shaped by a childhood where reading was a requirement rather than a suggestion. “As a kid my mom had a mandate every summer, we had to read a hundred books. You know I read John Steinbeck, and Ernest Hemingway and Robert Frost,” he said.
That foundation carried him through college. Nickerson graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1984 and went on to build a career as an accountant and financial consultant. For years, his life followed a steady and predictable path.
In 2005, that path changed dramatically. Nickerson was diagnosed with stage five non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Although he survived the cancer, he said the opioid prescriptions that followed his treatment led to an addiction that eventually unraveled his life and landed him in prison.
“I was risking my freedom and my life frivolously like it's nothing. Until something is taken from you, you don't know how to value it,” Nickerson said.
In 2010, Nickerson was incarcerated at David Wade Correctional Center. While behind bars, he underwent a stem cell bone marrow transplant. During that time, he was given a table in the dayroom and assigned to write.
“They put me at a table in the dayroom, and I'd write all day, that was my job. I wrote over 100 books,” he said.
What began as a way to occupy his time became something much more. Writing, Nickerson said, gave him purpose and helped him survive one of the most difficult periods of his life.
When the day finally came for his release, Nickerson said the moment left a lasting impression. He woke up to other men housed at the facility gathered around him, offering words he says he will never forget.
“Go out there and make us proud Nick, you don't belong here, go share your story we're gonna be watching,” he recalled.
Today, with the support of his family, Nickerson has self-published more than 40 books. Many draw directly from his own experiences with illness, addiction, incarceration, and recovery. He said his focus now is on using his writing to give back and reach others who may see parts of themselves in his story.
“All my life I've been a taker, it's time to give and pay it forward,” Nickerson said.
