Member Profiles
Brenda Arnold
Brenda Arnold recently published her new book, The Road to Somewhere, where she recounts how a year in Spain inspired her to move to Germany to join her future husband. Her memoir recounts the ups and downs of integrating (or not!) and raising two daughters bilingually. She publishes a blog called Expat Chatter and a podcast by the same name about the ongoing adventure of living abroad. For even after decades in Germany, the sight of a traditional Bavarian village elicits exclamations of delight from her. At least now that her two daughters live in Berlin, she is spared their dramatic eye-rolling in response. “Stop saying that,” they plead. “We’re from here!” But she’s not, and never ceases to find something new and exciting.
Christine Beck
Christine Beck holds an MFA from Southern Connecticut State University and is the author of four books of poetry: Blinding Light (Grayson Books 2013), I’m Dating Myself, (Dancing Girl Press 2015) Stirred, Not Shaken (Five Oaks Press 2016), and Given Time: A Mother-daughter Cancer Memoir (Finishing Line Press, 2025).
She has also written a book of poetry and prompts for writers in 12-step recovery called Beneath the Steps. Christine Beck has taught creative writing and literature at The University of Hartford and in private workshops. Her essays have appeared in Dreamers, Far Villages, and the anthology, Home.
She writes a weekly essay at christinebeck.substack.com called “Beck and Call,” about reading, writing and real life. Her website is www.ChristineBeck.net
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 Clare is a writer, speaker, poet, family therapist, and mindfulness practitioner. She holds a BA Hons. degree in psychology, an MSc in research psychology, and an MA in creative writing. Her professional qualifications include MBSR professional development training, a certificate in family therapy, a certificate in couples counselling, and an advanced diploma in hypnotherapy. She is a poet, mother, wife, friend, mindfulness teacher, survivor, gardener, and still curious
Sylvia is the author of many books, including her memoir, No Visible Injuries, plus five other memoirs. Her other books include Releasing your Child’s Potential, now updated as Who Will I Become?, four poetry volumes, and other books on various topics surrounding emotional literacy and mindfulness. Her two most recent books, both memoirs, are The Mindful Gardener and Travelling The Alphabet Geographically.
Find out more at: Sylvia Clare MSc. Psychol – Medium and at www.clarity-books.com
Heather Hawk
Heather Hawk enjoys writing the long and the short of it from her positive and progressive outlook on life. She has contributed short stories to several anthologies. Her personal essays are included in Tales From a Writers’ Circle.
Not a homebody and not one to sit still she has divided her time between the rainy Pacific Northwest and the iconic Mojave desert. Her loves center on travel, rocks, cacti, trees, real estate, and whatever wildlife happens to move in.
Follow and connect with Heather as she navigates around, through and over life’s challenges: www.heatherhawk.net
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/
David Hughes
David Hughes is a versatile musician and writer with a deep passion for storytelling and poetry. His work has been recognised in the FISH Literary Awards, where he was longlisted for poetry, and his novel Julia earned a placement in the Isle of Wight Book Awards for fiction.
David has spent years writing various genres including crime fiction and poetry while also writing extensively about Buddhist teachings. He frequently shares his experiences with Buddhist meditation and mindfulness on Medium and captures the quirky side of life in his Substack articles.
Anne-Marie Hussar
Anne-Marie Hussar is a Hungarian-born equestrian writer, ghostwriter, teacher, and riding instructor whose lifelong passion for horses has taken her across the globe. Driven by a deeply personal mission of processing her childhood traumas, Anne-Marie dedicated herself to creating a riding school built on strong moral values and integrity. With years of experience teaching and working within diverse equestrian communities in seven countries, she is now settled in her home country and channels her knowledge into writing, advocating for a more ethical and supportive environment for young riders, as well as educating equestrian parents, equipping them with the knowledge needed to navigate in the equestrian world. In her memoir, Riding Through Rose Fields, she sheds light on the importance of ensuring that no horse-loving child is ever mistreated, neglected, or left unheard. https://www.instagram.com/equestrian_parenting/
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
Claire Randall
Claire Randall was born in Chelmsford, Essex UK and grew up in the local area. From an early age she knew she wanted to write a book one day and surrounded herself with books and read whenever she could to begin the process.
Claire started work in banking, followed by registered childcare and then trained as a yoga teacher and therapist. Spending time with adults and children made her realise their need for creating time for self-care, as well as for herself.
She is married to Mark and has two grown-up children, with grandchildren who keep her busy. Her interests include writing, art, yoga, and reading non-fiction, memoir and historical fiction, . She enjoys helping others through her knowledge in health-care and how to include it as a priority in their lives.
She is currently writing a memoir with more planned and looks forward to continuing her writing journey. www.clairerandall.co.uk
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