Celebrating Our Alumni

Sara Ackerman, bestselling author

Sara Ackerman had three unpublished novels, and was working on a fourth, when she attended the retreat in 2013, 2014 & 2015. In 2017, her historical novel Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers was picked up by Mira/Harper Collins. Today she is a USA Today bestselling author with more books that we can track. The Codebreaker's Secret earned a starred review from Booklist, the American Library Association's review journal. Sara chalks up her success to attending writers retreats and conferences, as well as a whole lot of patience and perseverance.

Freeman Ng, poet and author

Freeman has been busy since attending the retreat in 2015 and 2016: Bridge Across The Sky (Simon & Schuster, 2024) is a YA novel-in-verse based on the Chinese  immigration experience through Angel Island in the early 1900's. Basho's Haiku Journeys (Stone Bridge Press, 2021) is a haiku picture book. Poetry and Terror, originally published by Rowman & Littlefield, is now a Bloomsbury USA title (after Bloomsbury acquired R & L). And a children's book is forthcoming from Neal Porter Books in 2027. Ripples is a picture book about gravitational waves and friendship.

Arielle Taitano Lowe, poet and author

Arielle attended several early retreats, before heading to UH-Manoa to get a PhD. And to write her first book of poetry! Ocean Mother is the first full-length poetry book to be written and published by a Chamoru woman born and raised in Guåhan (Guam). It published in Spring 2024 and is published by the University of Guam Press in partnership with NYU Press.  

Alexandra Avery, essayist and blogger 

Alexandra Avery, who attended in 2017 and 2018, has launched two collections on Substack: Alzheimer’s Archives and Living in Territorial Hawai’i. Here is a sample essay: "Spirit of Adventure." 

Angela Nishimoto, author

Angela Nishimoto published a a literary romance, Isabella's Daughter, with Pueo Press. 

Shizue Seigel, author and poet

Shizue Seigel’s debut poetry collection Courting A Man Who Doesn’t Talk, was published in late 2024, In May 2025, an essay about a 2019 trip to Paris was published in Panorama, the British online travel journal. She has also recently published in Journal X/Xinachli Journal. 

Christina Fang, journalist and blogger

Christina Fang, a three-time alum and our retreat coordinator, published "I Was an Extra on 'White Lotus'—Here's What It Taught Me About Thailand" in Travel + Leisure. In National Geographic, she published, "I took a ride on the Ha Giang Loop—the most dangerous road in Vietnam." (The Loop is shown below left.)

Tamara Leiokanoe Moan, essayist and poet

Tamara Leiokanoe Moan who has attended (and taught) for many years, saw two poems and an essay published in the Fall 2025 issue of Bamboo Ridge. Two of the three  pieces were born at O‘ahu Writers Retreats. (That's one of her art-word pieces below right.)