Rita Hanner-Ward

Rita Hanner-Ward is a contemporary American writer and poet whose insights are reflected in her short essays and poems that explore memory, grief, and the quiet beauty of everyday life. Colorado-raised, now residing in Arizona, she is a woman of many passions, each adding a unique dimension to her personality. Rita divides her time between writing, volunteering for hospice, clay hand-building, and caring for her loyal companion, Zorro. Under the pseudonym Kiva Wolfe, she writes international suspense-adventure thrillers in which crime, culture, and high-stakes intrigue collide worldwide. She published her debut novel, Red Flash, in 2005 and republished it independently in 2025. Having just completed Tears of Iemanjá, the sequel to Red Flash, she has begun writing the third and final book in the Gem Provenance Legacy series, The Price of Fire. A new mystery trilogy is also in the works. Her literary repertoire extends beyond novels, essays, and media contributions into poetry, where she explores themes of memory, grief, and redemption. The release of her poetry collections, Her Inconvenient Elegy: A Life in Fragments and Her Song of Sorrows: A Quiet Mourning in Verse, is a significant milestone in her diverse and intriguing career. 

Photo credit: L Cowles Photography