Member Profiles
Brenda Arnold
Brenda is the author of expat chatter.
She still swoons every time she drives through a small village with quaint houses, a market square and a stone church with an onion dome.
“What a cute little town!” she says, triggering dramatic eye-rolling from her teenage daughters. “Stop saying that,” they plead. “We’re from here!”
But since she’s not from here, she sees things with different, foreign eyes. That’s what her blog is all about: seeing Bavaria through Midwestern American tinted glasses. It’s an adventure that never stops!
You can find her podcast on Apple podcasts / Google podcasts / Spotify
Curtis Chin
Chin recently sold his memoir, “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant” to Little, Brown (Fall 2023). The book is about growing up Asian American in the Black and white city of Detroit and coming out in his working-class immigrant community. He also had recent articles in Bon Appetit and the Emancipator / Boston Globe.
A graduate of the undergraduate creative program at the University of Michigan, Chin has received fellowships from ABC/Disney Television, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has won awards from the National Association for Multicultural Education, the National Association for Ethnic Studies, the American Librarians Association, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and served as a Visiting Scholar at New York University.
Chin has screened his films with over 600 entities in sixteen countries including the White House, Lincoln Center, Amnesty International, SXSWEdu, and the Government of Norway. Past media include CNN, MSNBC, and public radio, as well as the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and Huffington Post.
As an activist, Chin co-founded the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, the premiere non-profit dedicated to promoting Asian American writers. He has also worked as the Director of Outreach for the Democratic National Committee and served on Barack Obama’s Asian American Leadership Committee during his 2008 Presidential Campaign.
Chin recently completed work on a short documentary on photographer, Corky Lee. The film, “Dear Corky” premiered at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific American Film Festival in May 2023.
Find out more at:
https://www.curtisfromdetroit.com/
Sylvia Clare
Sylvia is a writer, speaker, poet, family therapist and mindfulness practitioner. She holds a BA Hons. degree in psychology, and MSc in research psychology. Her professional qualifications include MBSR professional development training, certificate in family therapy, certificate in couples counselling and advanced diploma in hypnotherapy.
Sylvia is author of many books including her memoir, No Visible Injuries. She is also a poet, mother, wife, friend, mindfulness teacher, survivor, and still curious. Her other books include ‘Releasing your Child’s Potential’, ‘Trusting your Intuition’ and as co-author of ‘Living the Life You Want’.
Find out more at:
Sylvia Clare MSc. Psychol – Medium
Author Sylvia Clare | Newport | Facebook
Wisdom and mindfulness with Sylvia Clare
Amazon.co.uk: Sylvia Clare: Books, Biography, Blogs, Audiobooks, Kindle
Carol Hiestand
Carol is the author of: https://carolhiestand.com/
She is a wife of 52 years, mom of three sons, MIL to three daughters-in-law, grandmother to six grandsons, four granddaughters and friend to those who walk this journey with her. Each of these precious people brings much joy to her life.
She is a writer of poetry and sometimes “poetic prose” (at least that is what one of her writing teachers say). She loves purple and shades of rose, blue , lavender. Lilacs, waterfalls, any body of water, porch swings and Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi make her happy. (Well, she’d rather have the caffeine……but……)
Christina Howell
In a former life, Christina Howell was a project manager for an international tech corporation in Kansas City, USA. She knew she loved to read, loved telling stories, and enjoyed writing her blog, Go Find Glow but never thought about writing professionally until life kept handing her incredibly entertaining and unbelievable stories. She eventually acknowledged that her life was stranger than fiction and began work on her memoir, Magicians, Cross-dressers, and My Uterus.
She has a freelance editing business (Pen Your Masterpiece) and holds a writing certification from the University of Iowa. You can find her work in The Abstract Elephant, HerStry, and in GATHERING: A Women Who Submit Anthology.
Follow her at: https://christina-howell.com/ and listen to her podcast at: https://creativequesters.com/creative-quester-podcast/
Davy Khy
Davy Khy was born in a refugee camp in the Philippines after her parents survived a genocide in Cambodia. Her parents immigrated to America with her when she was only a month old. She grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, and graduated from Tufts University. Currently, she resides in Los Angeles, California, where she works on the financial planning side of the fashion and beauty industry.
Even though Davy loves Excel and numbers, her passion for food and cooking has led her to writing a memoir cookbook of her mother’s Cambodian recipes. Her goal is to share her mother’s story of survival along with the vibrant flavors of the underrepresented Cambodian cuisine. The process of writing the memoir cookbook has allowed Davy the opportunity to embrace the creative side of her that has been neglected for so long. She enjoys writing, recipe developing, food styling, food photography, and blogging.
Follow her blog at https://www.loveinmybelly.com/
Or on Instagram:
www.instagram.com/loveinmybelly
Jelaine Lombardi
Jelaine Lombardi has lived many lives. Raised in her family’s South Florida nudist park until age eighteen, a Newborn ICU nurse for thirty-two years, lifelong horsewoman, wife, and mother of two (one child gone too soon), there are stories to tell, some disturbing, some hysterical, some terribly sad.
Now retired, she is letting loose those memories through short stories, poetry, and her memoir Running Around Naked. Jelaine divides her time between the mountains of Tennessee and the sands of Florida with her husband, Tom Lombardi, and their Australian Terrier, Cooper.
Order her book at: https://www.amazon.com/Running-Around-Naked-Jelaine-Lombardi-ebook/dp/B0BNY2MDRJ
Amie McCracken
Amie McCracken is an imaginist. Her stories dive deep into the what-ifs of life. Swimming in books her whole life, her career as an editor and book designer was only natural. She hails from the US of A but has lived abroad for most of her adult life. With a book or three on her nightstand, a manuscript in progress on her laptop, and a cup of tea to hand, Amie is a storyteller.
Find out more at:
Alan O’Hashi
Alan O’Hashi and Boulder Community Media (BCM) work with community-based media producers, organizations, and socially-responsible businesses to develop their content in a culturally competent manner.
After being laid off from two jobs following 9/11, Alan’s employment counselor suggested he take a risk and try something he’s always wanted to do, but didn’t because of being stuck in a “job.”
Alan enrolled in some video production and screenwriting classes at the local public access TV station. Backstopped by unemployment and student loans, he jumped off the entrepreneurial cliff and hasn’t looked back.
After producing many narrative and documentary films, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he changed his creative process and started writing books, a throwback to his junior high school days.
Alan’s first book, Beyond Heart Mountain (2022) was released by Winter Goose Publishing about his life in Wyoming, having experienced overt and quiet racism following World War II, and how building communities like cohousing can result in a more civil society. The book was adapted from his documentary of the same title that streams on PBS Passport.
Beyond Sand Creek (2023), Alan’s latest documentary about Arapaho tribal efforts to repatriate property in northern Colorado and tie traditional ceremonies and language to the traditional land base, airs on Wyoming PBS in February 2023.
True Stories of an Aging Do-Gooder: How cohousing bridges cultural divides was self-published in 2021. The book is a memoir about rising from his deathbed and being supported by his cohousing community.
The Zen of Writing with Imperfection and Confidence was self-published in 2020 and recounts Alan’s evolution as a starving artist following two job layoffs in four years.
Electric Vehicle Anxiety and Advice is a memoir and travelogue written in real time between May 16 to July 2, 2022. I took three road trips in my Nissan Leaf totaling 2,600 miles around Wyoming.
Beyond the Bed Pan (Working Title) is Alan’s latest memoir in progress, which is a memoir based on Alan’s experience with the medical and healthcare systems over his 69 years of life.
Diana Radovan
Diana Radovan PhD ELS is the Romanian-born author of the kaleidoscopic memoir Our Voices and a Best of the Net nominee for the essay On The Way. Her creative work, published internationally since 2004, blends magical realism, nonfiction, poetry, and imagery. Her multi- and cross-lingual writing explores the possibilities and boundaries of language, intergenerational trauma, the lasting impact of political oppression, and the immigrant experience. She lives in Upper Bavaria, Germany. Find out more at www.naturewriting.net or follow her on Instagram
Bill Ratner
Bill Ratner is a published author, 9-time winner of The Moth StorySLAM, certified volunteer grief counselor, Best of the Net Poetry Nominee, and one of America’s most successful voice actors. His poetry is published in Best Small Fictions 2021 (Sonder Press,) To Decorate a Casket (chapbook-Finishing Line Press,) Fear of Fish (selected poems-Alien Buddha Press,) and assorted journals. He is the author of Parenting for the Digital Age: The Truth Behind Media’s Effect on Children (Familius Books.)He is working on a full-length memoir and lives with his wife of thirty-six years, artist Aleka Corwin. They have two adult daughters and one grandson. • https://billratner.com/author • twitter & instagram @billratner https://www.amazon.com/Bill-Ratner/e/B00MT2W1L8
Layla Sabourian
Layla Sabourian is an internationally recognized author, learning strategist, entrepreneur, and keynote speaker on innovations that support learning and knowledge sharing from the symbiosis of children and culture to achieve sustainable growth with a focus on engagement and well-being.
Layla recently sold her memoir, “Everywhere and Nowhere” to Exisle Publishing (Fall 2023). The book is about a girl who loses her voice in Iran and finds it back in America. She is a former Columnist for FSHN magazine and a blogger for Yahoo!, eBay, SAP, and Logitech.
Layla has recently completed work on a short documentary on Iranian social media ecosystem “Iranian Honeymoon.”
Find out more at:
https://www.laylasabourian.com