Artistic Statement

Artistic Statement

As a former novelist, story is at the core of all I create. I write listening for the still, small voice and trust it to deliver a message at once gut-honest and ennobling. I tell stories that open hearts and minds, make issues achingly and inescapably personal, and don’t let go. This has been true the whole of my writing career, whether reporting from a combat zone, crafting a novel, or writing for the screen. After covering the first Palestinian Uprising for two winters as a correspondent and witnessing firsthand the gamut of senseless tragedies behind the headlines, I realized that hard news could never convey an iota of the deeper story I was gleaning. I turned to fiction writing and earned my State's Literary Fellowship in Fiction. I learned that I can find light in the most horrific situations and leave readers (and now an audience) with hope.

Nothing stirs me as deeply as the current of shared excitement that runs through a live audience when a play or musical or opera is working its magic. Feminism and anti-racism inform all that I create. Having earned a Masters degree in Intercultural Studies, I write from a global perspective with the conscious aim of fostering intercultural, interracial, and cross-gender understanding and healing. I care deeply about climate change and the extinction of species and have addressed these issues across multiple art forms.

My overarching aspiration is to make a contribution in spirit and substance to the communities that have welcomed me by engaging audiences with inclusive, barrier-breaking stories that challenge, inspire, and bring about positive change.