Frances H Kakugawa grew up speaking Pidgin in Hawaii. At age six, she discovered that Dick, Jane and Sally from her Readers didn’t speak as she did. Fascinated, she decided then to become a writer. She protected this dream by avoiding writing courses in college, afraid a professor would tell her she couldn’t write. Her collection of childhood poems was lost when her village was destroyed by lava flows.
Her first of 14 books, Sand Grains, a book of poems, was published when she was in her 30’s. When she became a caregiver for her mother who had Alzheimer’s, it was poetry writing that transformed her experiences into an art form. She published three books for adults and one for children on caregiving. Her four award-winning illustrated children’s books about a little mouse poet give children the power for change through poetry.
Today Frances is internationally published; she goes nationwide to give lectures and workshops on using poetry to humanize caregiving, patients, and the care of our elders. She visits classrooms as a writer. She writes a “Dear Frances” monthly advice column for caregivers in the Hawai’i Herald. Frances resides in Sacramento.
Meet her at:
Website: www.francesk.org
Blog: http://franceskakugawa.wordpress.com