MEMBERS

Susie Anderson

ARTIST

www.susieanderson.com

Susie is a devoted oil painter, passionate about painting outdoors “en plein air”. She is a Signature Member of the “Plein Air Painters of Hawaii” and a juried member of “Oil Painters of America”—one of only seven artists selected from Hawaii.

Susie's paintings are in numerous private and corporate collections worldwide, and in the permanent collections of the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts and the City & County of Honolulu. She has won many honors for her work in juried shows including six Best-of-Show/First Place awards, has shown at the "Artists of Hawaii" show at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, and was a regular guest artist at the Academy’s “Showcase 2003-2007” exhibitions.

Susie has lived in Hawaii since 1969 and is a graduate of the University of Southern California. She is a member of the Gallery at Ward Centre, and currently represented by Nohea Gallery, Fine Art Associates, Maui Hands, and Kaukini Gallery on Maui, as well as District Gallery in Park City, Utah. Susie has been a member of NLAPW since the mid 1970’s and is a past President of our Honolulu Branch.

Joy Au

LETTERS

 aujoy@rocketmail.com

When Joy graduated with a Master’s degree in Elementary Education in 1980, her son was a year old. She received her diploma, with him in her arms. She taught young children for over 30 years and is presently retired. She is on-call as a substitute teacher and office helper at Iolani School where she also teaches summer school.   

What gets her up in the mornings? Being immersed in intuition while writing children’s books and doing art work. Joy has written several children’s books and is avid about learning to paint and draw. She loves the process of writing, as well as the process of creating art. 

In writing A Bug Hunt in Hawai’i Nei she went on nature walks with her family to verify data for the book. This is when her interest in nature photography began. 

What If Elephants Wore Hula Skirts at the Honolulu Zoo was written at 3:00 a.m. in Lisbon, Portugal, while on a trip because she was homesick for Hawaii. Thinking of Hawaii made her think of the zoo where she spent a lot of time with her son. Each book that she has written has a story behind it.

Joy grew up in a small community on the island of Kauai in the 1950s and economic times were tight. She ate lots of fish and vegetables since her father was a great fisherman and gardener. She had her first burger with lettuce and cheese at age ten at a snack deli for 25 cents. And a glass of cola was 10 cents! 

Roslyn Catracchia

Roslyn has been involved in the musical theater world for over 30 years — writing, recording, producing, musical directing and stage directing. She began composing for the Honolulu Theatre for Youth and then worked as a lyricist and composer for Lisa Matsumoto’s Once Upon One Time Trilogy. Since then, she’s written music and lyrics for 11 full-length productions as well the music and lyrics for several Ala Moana Center Shows. A recipient of seven Po’okela Awards and two Hoku nominations, her full-time job is Director of Worship and Performing Arts at First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu, where one of her greatest joys is directing the Keiki Christmas Musical each year. Roslyn is also a member of ASCAP.

Barbara Clemens

LETTERS

Barbara Clemens, former university English instructor and software product manager, is a writer and developmental editor of computer textbooks for the college and university market. She has recently edited a best-selling text on Microsoft Excel 2019, and coauthored a computer concepts text, published by Cengage Learning. She also creates instructional videos.

In addition, she writes and teaches online courses for the online learning company Ed2Go, and has published magazine and newspaper articles. She has sung with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the Hawai`i Vocal Arts Ensemble. She is currently working on a novel based on the life of her great-grandfather.

E. Shan Correa

LETTERS

shan.correa@gmail.com

A former university professor and a professional freelance writer, Correa pens fiction, non-fiction and poetry for children and adults. Her work appears in anthologies, magazines, newspapers, and literary journals and has been honored with multiple awards. Some fiction sales have been to Japanophile, Cricket and Bamboo Ridge; poetry to American Poets & Poetry, Toasts, and Time for Singing; and articles to Trade Winds, Honolulu, and ByLine magazines. Shan wrote features for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and edited The Japan-America Journal. Her most recent book is the nationally-praised middle-grade novel, Gaff. She continues to write—and read—her work for Hawaii audiences.

Carol Egan

DANCE

Carol Egan began dance training at an early age in California and pursued professional studies at the Juilliard School in New York. Since then she has danced, taught, and choreographed throughout the U.S. and Europe; managed several small companies, most notably the Jazz Tap Ensemble (1980-84); written for numerous magazines and newspapers and contributed articles to the International Ballet Encyclopedia.
She also served as consultant to many small non-profit organizations; served as a panelist and site visitor for the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, The New York State Council on the Arts, and the State Foundation for Culture and the Arts (Honolulu); and acted as one of four national Dance Committee members for the CIES, Fulbright Committee.

Ms. Egan began writing about dance in 1976 when she became the San Francisco Bay Area News correspondent for Dance Magazine. She has since written articles for Ballet Review, Dance Horizons, the Berkeley Voice and several other East Bay publications, Diablo Magazine in Walnut Creek, The Honolulu Advertiser (where she served as dance writer from 2001-2010), Malamalama, HI Luxury and Halekulani Living magazine.

Jodi Endicott

Mary Farkash

Jane Marshall Goodsill

LETTERS

janegoodsill@icloud.com

www.voicesofhawaii.com

Jane was born and raised in Hawai`i.  With a Master’s Degree in clinical psychology, she began her career as a licensed professional counselor in Sugar Land, Texas where she lives with her husband.  After retiring, she chaired the local Historical Commission Oral History Committee for about 10 years, contributing 150+ interviews to the collection. 

On each return to Hawai`i to be with family, Jane asked herself why she was not taking interviews here!  What began as a labor of love, turned into the publication of two books. She interviewed island residents who had in some way, large or small, impacted Hawai`i's destiny. She soon realized that the treasury of anecdotal history she had assembled was too rich to keep to herself.  The best parts of these candid interviews were gathered into two books:

·      Voices of Hawai`i: Life Stories from the Generation that Shaped the Aloha State

·      Voices of Hawai`i: Preserving Island Culture One Story at a Time 

 Jane,  divides her time between Hawaii and Texas, and is currently working on Volume III of Voices of Hawai`i.   

Excerpt from the epilogue of Volume II of Voice of Hawai`i:  "Two phrases I heard while writing this book have stuck with me. The first is kulukulu waimaka—tears running down cheeks. The second phrase is by an interviewee who noted, “My favorite word to describe the impact of witnessing a volcanic event is pū‘iwa - a stupefaction on account of wonder.

I get emotional describing how interactions with my interviewees affect me. Here I am recording their stories or asking to use their artwork, yet I am the one who is kulukulu waimaka—tears running down cheeks. If one were to ask me why I do this work, which is at times grueling and exhausting, I guess I’d have to reply, “to experience pū‘iwa: a stupefaction on account of wonder.”

Sabra Rae Feldstein

ARTS

Island artist Sabra Rae Feldstein began her artistic exploration at age five with color crayons, coloring books and staying within the lines; it led her to a professional career in art that has taken her around the world.

She received BA degrees in history and art from University of California, Berkeley, and pursued graduate studies at California College of Arts and Crafts.

As well as being a Graphic Designer, Sabra is also a painter, a mixed media collage artist, and currently she is pursuing the art of fusing and slumping glass. She is also writing a memoir titled “Walking Barefoot on Oyster Shells”.

Joan Gencarelli

LETTERS

Writer Joan Gencarelli was born in London, England and has lived in Hawaii since the early sixties.  Joan’s first career was as a technical writer who created operating procedures and systems requirements for the casualty insurance industry, where her clients included Hartford Insurance Company and HIG. 

In 2002, Joan “started writing for fun,” which resulted in short stories from life as an Ex-pat in Beijing, Seoul and Bangkok. Childhood memories of being placed in various foster homes during four years of evacuation were incorporated into a rich memoir, and one short story, “Evacuation—There and Back” which became part of the BBC WWII People’s War archives. Among other stories, one published in the literary journal, The Rainbird, was awarded the Golden Plover Award from the Windward Arts Council. 

Carol Gold

LETTERS

I am a historian, teacher, writer, mother, feminist, New Yorker who lives sometimes in Alaska, sometimes in Hawaii, sometimes in Copenhagen and has recently moved to Minnesota.  I have taught European and women’s history at universities in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alaska and Denmark.  In 2011, I retired from the University of Alaska Fairbanks after having taught there for 35 years.  While there, I was the first coordinator of the Women’s Studies Program and founded and managed the campus Women’s Center.  I have written three books on Danish women --  Women in Business in Early Modern Copenhagen (Copenhagen, 2018), Danish Cookbooks  (Seattle, WA & Copenhagen, 2007), and Educating Middle Class Daughters (Copenhagen, 1996).

Joy Gold

LETTERS / ARTS

www.joygoldunlimited.com

Born and raised near the piko of Oahu, Wahiawa, Joy Gold has been writing since small kid time. Her poem, "Sansei" was published in RicePaper, a Canadian-Asian Literary magazine, and "Po-Ho, Waste Time" was published in the Hawaii Review. Her day job is president of Joy Gold Unlimited, a full service government relations company.

Judge Leslie Ann Hayashi (Ret.)

LETTERS

Leslie.A.Hayashi@gmail.com

www.Leslieahayashi.com

My earliest memories are of reading books past bedtime under the covers with a flashlight. My mom was convinced that a book would grow at the end of my nose. When I was seven years old, I decided to become a writer. Over time, I became a writer and more, serving 25 years as a judge, dabbling in art and teaching. I currently serve as the secretary on The National Judicial College Board of Trustees.

I’m married to Alan Van Etten, Esq. and have two sons, Justin and Taylor.

Education: Georgetown University Law Center, Stanford University and Leilehua High School.

May Rosanna Hsi

DANCE

May Rosanna Hsi was born in Canton, China, and was brought up in Hong Kong. After finishing High School at Maryknoll Convent School, she received a bachelor’s degree in English from Holy Names University in Oakland, California, and a Diploma in Education from Durham University in England. She worked in California for several years before moving to Honolulu in 1975 to marry Peter Hsi. Rosanna is active in the National League of American Pen Women, the Alliance Française, and the IBDI ballroom dance club, and the Han Sheng Music Association of Hawaii (Chinese chorale). She enjoys travel, walking, being with friends, and especially cherishes time with her children and grandchildren.

Susan Killeen

LETTERS

Susan Killeen writes fiction, memoir, and co-wrote the screenplay for Moon Over Paradise. Susan has over 12 years experience as a writer-producer in the television industry. She served as executive broadcast producer of Travelago.com, and as the executive director of the Hawaii Consortium for the Arts, a non-profit arts advocacy organization.

She has received a number of awards for her writing, including the Lorin Tarr Gill Award for fiction, a Telly Award for video and several Myrle Clark Awards.

She is currently the lead interpretive guide at Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design.

Marcia Zina Mager

LETTERS

www.marciazinamager.com

Marcia Zina Mager is an international author, playwright, poet, artist, and performer. Her books have been translated into 10 languages. She’s the co-writer/co-performer of Hawaii’s award-winning 2-woman musical about self-worth: MONEY TALKS: But What the Hell is it Saying (ilovemoneytalks.com). Marcia also coaches writers around the country as The Write Coach (321write.com). She studied improvisation with Hollywood legend Alan Arkin, and has appeared on local and national television, including a guest-starring role on Hawaii Five-O. In addition, she councils clients around the world as a channel/interpreter for TLC, a group of non-physical beings who call themselves The Light Council.

Luanna H. Meyer, Ph.D.

LETTERS

Co-President, PEN Women, Honolulu Branch

Luanna is Professor Emerita at Victoria University in New Zealand and held previous faculty positions at the University of Hawaii, the University of Minnesota, Syracuse University, and Massey University. She has published thirteen non-fiction books and nearly 200 articles and book chapters about her research and been invited to speak in 9 countries and 30 U.S. states. Her debut novel Bella’s Legacy was published in 2018. In her spare time, she serves as a Malama na Honu volunteer helping to educate the public about our magnificent Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles protected by the Endangered Species Act.

Rosemary Mild

LETTERS / ARTS

roselarry@magicile.com

www.magicile.com

Rosemary and Larry Mild are cheerful coauthors in crime. Their newest work is Copper and Goldie: 13 Tails of Mystery and Suspense in Hawaii, featuring a disabled ex-cop-turned-cabbie and his partner, a golden retriever. Their books include Cry Ohana and Honolulu Heat, suspense novels set in Hawaii; six tantalizing traditional mysteries; and a sci-fi novella. Rosemary authored Love! Laugh! Panic! Life with My Mother and Miriam's World—and Mine, for the beloved daughter they lost in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Larry, a PEN Women Friend, published his autobiography, No Place To Be But Here.

Carol Polcovar

LETTERS

Carol is a playwright, poet, teacher (history, writing, psychology, religion), as well as a director and producer of NYC Theater. More recently she has turned her hand to murder in her first historical mystery: A Murder on Allen Street. This New York native grew up in Brooklyn’s Coney Island, sometimes known as “Sodom on the Sea” and is developing a memoir about growing up in this unusual place.

Carol received an MFA in Poetry from Brooklyn College where she studied with John Ashbery. Her poetry has been published in several literary magazines and anthologies including the Partisan Review and Brooklyn Poets.

Her work in theater has embraced directing, producing and playwrighting. Her comedy SisterMusic was featured in the first LGBT Theater Festival in Italy where it played Rome then toured the major Italian cities.  Her docudrama, My Mother Told Me I Was Different featuring firsthand accounts of the first night of the Stonewall Rebellion won Theatermania’s prize for best docudrama. My plays have been produced in NYC, Italy and Honolulu.

She founded and for fourteen years I was the Artistic Director of the International Queer Festival “Fresh Fruit” now entering its 21st year.

Pamela Rotner Sakamoto

LETTERS

pamrsakamoto@icloud.com

www.pamelarotnersakamoto.com

Pamela Rotner Sakamoto is an American historian. Her recent book Midnight in Broad Daylight: A Japanese American Family Caught Between Two Worlds (Harper) is the true story of a family divided by war with brothers in opposing armies in the Pacific and family in Hiroshima. It has received numerous accolades and been translated into several languages.

Pamela also authored Japanese Diplomats and Jewish Refugees: A World War II Dilemma (Praeger). Fluent in Japanese, she consults on Japan-related projects for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and has taught in the University of Hawaii System. She chairs the Social Studies department at Punahou School.

Susan Scott

LETTERS

honu@susanscott.net

www.susanscott.net

Susan Scott has written a weekly marine science column called “Ocean Watch” for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser since 1987 and is the author of nine books about nature in Hawaii. After moving to Hawaii in 1983, Susan, a former registered nurse, earned a bachelor’s degree in marine biology from the University of Hawaii. Susan has counted albatrosses at Midway Atoll, tagged coconut crabs on Palmyra Atoll and rescued monk seals and sea turtles at French Frigate Shoals Atoll. In 2005, Susan sailed her 37-foot ketch from Honolulu to Australia. Susan lives on Oahu with her husband, Craig Thomas, and their dog, Pixel, where she makes art from trash she finds on the world’s beaches.

Penny Pence Smith

LETTERS

www.medmarman@mindspring.com

Penny Pence Smith is the author of four Meredith Ogden Hollywood Legwoman Mysteries, featuring a Hollywood journalist following the wiles of the movie, TV and music industries. Smith began writing during high school for the Indio Daily News in Southern California, received a Communication and journalism B.A. at University of Washington, MA from Annenberg School at USC, and Ph.D. from UNC-Chapel Hill. She was a Warner Communication movie magazine editor, correspondent/LA Bureau Manager for New York Times Special Features Syndicate, Hawaii Correspondent for The Hollywood Reporter, and author of best-selling Hawaii tourism books. She managed advertising, public relations agencies and marketing consulting firms before joining UNC Chapel Hill  and Hawaii Pacific University as a full time professor. Her work also appears in current hotel, tourism and other publications.

Kathryn Waddell Takara, PhD

LETTERS

www.kathrynwaddelltakara.com

www.pacificravenpress.com

Kathryn Waddell Takara, PhD, is the author of eight books of poetry, a biography, and a collection of oral histories. In 2010, she was honored with the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation. Takara is the owner and publisher of Pacific Raven Press, LLC, which has published 18 titles. She is a recognized scholar, celebrated intellectual, and performance artist. Takara’s global travels are reflected in her work as footprints, phantasms, and wings to self-development, consciousness, and a call to conscience.

Recently Takara co-produced a jazz event featuring the music of Thelonious Monk. She performed eco-poetry at Paliku Arts Festival at Windward Community College, published articles in writers of The Black Chicago Renaissance, Black Hollywood Unchained and The Chaminade Review. In 2018-2019, she gave poetry readings in New York City, Richmond Virginia, California and in the Hawaiian Islands. Some of her poetry has been translated into Chinese.

Vera Stone Williams

LETTERS

verastone60@gmail.com

Who knew that a degree from UCLA in The Philosophy of the Ethnic Arts would lead to such an interesting and varied life? I have been a video and film producer, teacher, designer (house, interior, and garden), and a writer. 

My books include, “WACs; Women’s Army Corp 1942 to 1978” and ”WASPs: Women Airforce Service Pilots of WWII." Past NLAPW President and WWII pilot, Jeanne Robertson’s exciting stories and artist's-eye-photography were essential to my book.  

I have been very involved in the Pen Women since 1994; Letter's Chair, Membership Chair, Vice President, and President. I have volunteered at many of the writer's conferences and taught a seminar in Creative Non-Fiction. 

Currently I am directing and photographing for Military Stock Photography. 

Patrice M. Wilson, PhD

LETTERS

srthereseocd14@gmail.com

pmwilsonpoet.com

Born in Newark, NJ, Patrice M. Wilson received partial scholarships to Yale, Smith, and Mount Holyoke, but earned her English degrees from University of Maryland, College Park with an induction into Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, and from UH-Manoa in Honolulu, to which she moved in 1985.  She is a retired Associate Professor of English, Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu, where she developed literature courses and a poetry workshop; edited Hawaii Pacific Review; established the Ko’olau Writing Workshops, the James Vaughan Annual Poetry Award, and the Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society, HPU Chapter.

She has had three chapbooks published by Finishing Line Press (now out of print); one full length poetry collection, HUES OF DARKNESS, HUES OF LIGHT (2013, eLectio Publishing), a few literary critical articles in scholarly journals, and many poems in many literary magazines and journals. She won the Hawaii Literary Arts Council Loretta Petrie Award in 2018 for outstanding service to the Hawaii literary community; she had previously earned runner ups, honorable mentions, short listings, and nominations from various sources, including Science Fiction Poetry Association, Aesthetica Creative Writing Contest (York, UK), and Pushcart.

From 2014-2019, she was a novice at the beautiful cloistered Carmelite Monastery of the Holy Trinity in the Ko’olau mountains, where she studied to be a nun between 2014-2019. She now lives, writes, teaches, and Zooms, as well as crochets, makes jewelry, and is generally creative, in the lovely suburb of Mililani, Hawaii, where she moved into a cozy little apartment in September, 2019.

Rebecca Woodland

LETTERS

www.rebeccawoodland.net

www.celebrationceremonieshawaii.com

Author of The Blonde Vegetarian, editor and contributing chef-author of Hawai'i Regional Cuisine, Rebecca's recipes reflect her passion for easy, tasty, healthy, family-friendly cuisine. Her other books include The Freedom Cookbook and Kicking Cancer. A graduate of the University of Victoria (Canada) and Living Light Culinary Arts Institute (California), Rebecca studied intaglio print-making and creative writing in Greece, culinary arts in Vietnam and Mexico, and is now pursuing a Master of Divinity in Indigenous Studies. She teaches cooking classes, officiates weddings, and leads Food and Friendship Tours to Southeast Asia and Mexico.

Dorothy Winslow Wright

LETTERS

dorothywwright@icloud.com

Although Dorothy Wright’s work has been published in such magazines, books, anthologies and literary journals as Delaware Today; Atlantic-Canada Annual Anthology of Christmas Stories; The Book Group Book; A Loving Voice Iⅈ Honolulu Magazine; Modern Maturity; Touring Times; Yankee Magazine; The Atlantic Advocate; and ComputerEdge, she is best known for her long career as a poet.

With many hundreds of poems in print and scores of awards for their quality, Wright takes pride in recent publication of featured poems in anthologies Kindred (2018) and Entwined (2019), and a second printing of her own memoir in verse, There and Not There.

Dr. Susan J. Wurtzburg

LETTERS

sandydogbooksllc@gmail.com

www.the-efa.org/memberinfo/susan-wurtzburg

Susan J. Wurtzburg began her writing life as an archaeologist, working in Yucatan, Mexico. Since that time, she has transitioned to research with living people, and now teaches online undergraduate courses for the departments of anthropology, sociology, and women’s studies, at the University of Hawaii – Manoa. Her teaching and writing projects focus on gender, sexuality, and violence. Currently, she is exploring how to transition into creating fiction, a whole new venture. Susan also runs an editing business, focusing on academic writing: Sandy Dog Books, LLC. The namesake sandy dog lives close to the beach in Kailua, Hawaii.