Above is a photograph of me in an inn near Mount Fuji on a journey with my family around Asia. Right outside the sliding doors was a garden that led to the path up the mountain. I loved books and read whenever I could. When I was in the middle of a book, I was happy.
During my time my years in Japan (1983-2007) and in the U.S. (2007-present), my writing and illustrating work has appeared and been honored in many forms:
July, 2021: Poetry published in Foreshadow. A book of poems “Psalms at Finisterre” will be published in the spring of 2022.
June, 2019 and 2020: Sermons, poetry and illustrations published in The Living Pulpit. Poetry also published in Sinister Wisdom."
April, 2018: My illustration made the cover of Insanity’s Horse, a student art magazine at Drew University. My poem “Whale in Brooklyn” was also featured in the magazine.
March, 2017: Recipient of the “Honoring Women in Our Society Community Award” by the Anatolian Institute for excellence in civic engagement and community service.
August, 2016: Premiered "Midwife" at the Salt Lake Festival Fringe. This one-woman play with music follows my ancestor midwife's journey on the Transcontinental Railway in 1868. The play highlights the intersections in her life with Native Americans. Performed in New York City in October of 2016. Proceeds support a Shoshone language program for the Northwest Band of Shoshone.
Fall, 2014: Recipient of a prize in Creative Non-Fiction for Dancing Bird’s Apprentice by the Utah Arts and Museums Council.
December 2013: Recipient of the New Pioneer award by Salt Lake City Weekly.
January 2010 "Man from Magdalena" was premiered as a one-woman play with music in southern Arizona and performed at a peace conference in Indiana and at many churches in Arizona, California and the Unitarian Univesalist General Assembly in Phoenix in 2012. Performances have funded hundreds of microloans to people living in Mexico and Central America.
Spring 2010, “Theopoetics of the Body” published in CrossCurrents, a journal of theology.
Spring, 2010 Thomas J. Mullen Ministry of Writing Fellowship, Earlham School of Religion. I wrote Dancing Bird’s Apprentice in the spring of 2010 with this award. This work spotlights the intersection of my ancestor's life with Native Americans in her 19th century midwife diary.
Fall, 2010. A chapter of my memoir Two Ladies and Their Bilingual Cats was published in Chrysalis as the recipient of the Bailey Prize for Literature.
2008-10 Cooper Scholarship for full tuition at Earlham School of Religion.
2005 My novel, Village Above the Stars, was chosen for recommended reading by the National Library Association of Japan. This book contains 45 of my own illustrations.
2005 My previous work and current book were featured on numerous television and radio programs in Japan (NHK, Ishikawa Television, MRO Hokuriku Broadcasting, Ishikawa Radio).
2004 My writing career was featured in an award-winning TV documentary called Love Letter from Japan (Japanese language).
1998 Received an Izumi Kyoka playwriting award for “Yugetsu,” a play about Kano Suga and the Great Trial of Treason of the Meiji Period. The play was chosen for the prize by Hiroyuki Itsuki, a famous Japanese writer.
Books and a Film
2005 Village Above the Stars, Jushinsha Press, Tokyo (in Japanese). This book contains 45 of my own illustrations.
2003 “Feast of Light”, my first film was premiered in Japan. My poetry was recited with solo piano music in Light in the Woods. The film is about coming to terms with loss and is still shown at many Buddhist temples in western Japan. Presented at the Art Hall of Kanazawa.
1997 “Yugetsu,” a prize-winning play, was published by the city of Kanazawa. This is a play within a play about the life of Kanno Suga and the Great Treason Trials in the early 19th century Japan and the fictional work of a woman living in the mountains "Koya Hijiri" by Izumi Kyoka. It received honorable mention in the Izumi Kyoka Prize and was performed in the City Arts Center of the city of Kanazawa.
1996 When the Woman Who Loved Insects Hid, published bilingually by Kanazawa Ikadaigaku Press. (For sale at amazon.co.jp) This play was performed on Noh stages in many parts of Japan and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
1989-1991 As a regional reporter, I wrote numerous articles published in Mainichi Daily News.
1989 Just Between the Three of Us was performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and on Noh stages in Japan. It is the story of twins, one of whom was played by a bunraku puppet.
1987 Folk tales from Noto, translated by Patty Christiena Willis, published by Groovy Press, Kanazawa.
1978 Poetry written in French, published in a University of Illinois poetry publication.
Below is our farmhouse home that inspired the novel that I published in Japan: "Hoshi No Furu Mura" "The Village Above the Stars" and "Feast of Light."
July, 2021: Poetry published in Foreshadow. A book of poems “Psalms at Finisterre” will be published in the spring of 2022.
June, 2019 and 2020: Sermons, poetry and illustrations published in The Living Pulpit. Poetry also published in Sinister Wisdom."
April, 2018: My illustration made the cover of Insanity’s Horse, a student art magazine at Drew University. My poem “Whale in Brooklyn” was also featured in the magazine.
March, 2017: Recipient of the “Honoring Women in Our Society Community Award” by the Anatolian Institute for excellence in civic engagement and community service.
August, 2016: Premiered "Midwife" at the Salt Lake Festival Fringe. This one-woman play with music follows my ancestor midwife's journey on the Transcontinental Railway in 1868. The play highlights the intersections in her life with Native Americans. Performed in New York City in October of 2016. Proceeds support a Shoshone language program for the Northwest Band of Shoshone.
Fall, 2014: Recipient of a prize in Creative Non-Fiction for Dancing Bird’s Apprentice by the Utah Arts and Museums Council.
December 2013: Recipient of the New Pioneer award by Salt Lake City Weekly.
January 2010 "Man from Magdalena" was premiered as a one-woman play with music in southern Arizona and performed at a peace conference in Indiana and at many churches in Arizona, California and the Unitarian Univesalist General Assembly in Phoenix in 2012. Performances have funded hundreds of microloans to people living in Mexico and Central America.
Spring 2010, “Theopoetics of the Body” published in CrossCurrents, a journal of theology.
Spring, 2010 Thomas J. Mullen Ministry of Writing Fellowship, Earlham School of Religion. I wrote Dancing Bird’s Apprentice in the spring of 2010 with this award. This work spotlights the intersection of my ancestor's life with Native Americans in her 19th century midwife diary.
Fall, 2010. A chapter of my memoir Two Ladies and Their Bilingual Cats was published in Chrysalis as the recipient of the Bailey Prize for Literature.
2008-10 Cooper Scholarship for full tuition at Earlham School of Religion.
2005 My novel, Village Above the Stars, was chosen for recommended reading by the National Library Association of Japan. This book contains 45 of my own illustrations.
2005 My previous work and current book were featured on numerous television and radio programs in Japan (NHK, Ishikawa Television, MRO Hokuriku Broadcasting, Ishikawa Radio).
2004 My writing career was featured in an award-winning TV documentary called Love Letter from Japan (Japanese language).
1998 Received an Izumi Kyoka playwriting award for “Yugetsu,” a play about Kano Suga and the Great Trial of Treason of the Meiji Period. The play was chosen for the prize by Hiroyuki Itsuki, a famous Japanese writer.
Books and a Film
2005 Village Above the Stars, Jushinsha Press, Tokyo (in Japanese). This book contains 45 of my own illustrations.
2003 “Feast of Light”, my first film was premiered in Japan. My poetry was recited with solo piano music in Light in the Woods. The film is about coming to terms with loss and is still shown at many Buddhist temples in western Japan. Presented at the Art Hall of Kanazawa.
1997 “Yugetsu,” a prize-winning play, was published by the city of Kanazawa. This is a play within a play about the life of Kanno Suga and the Great Treason Trials in the early 19th century Japan and the fictional work of a woman living in the mountains "Koya Hijiri" by Izumi Kyoka. It received honorable mention in the Izumi Kyoka Prize and was performed in the City Arts Center of the city of Kanazawa.
1996 When the Woman Who Loved Insects Hid, published bilingually by Kanazawa Ikadaigaku Press. (For sale at amazon.co.jp) This play was performed on Noh stages in many parts of Japan and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
1989-1991 As a regional reporter, I wrote numerous articles published in Mainichi Daily News.
1989 Just Between the Three of Us was performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and on Noh stages in Japan. It is the story of twins, one of whom was played by a bunraku puppet.
1987 Folk tales from Noto, translated by Patty Christiena Willis, published by Groovy Press, Kanazawa.
1978 Poetry written in French, published in a University of Illinois poetry publication.
Below is our farmhouse home that inspired the novel that I published in Japan: "Hoshi No Furu Mura" "The Village Above the Stars" and "Feast of Light."
