Anna Redsand

Anna Redsand writes about people and ideas that have had a significant impact on society. Her work has appeared in Fireweed, Rockhurst Review, Third Coast, Friends Journal, Clockhouse Review, Mount Hope Magazine, and Isthmus. Her memoir essay, "Naturalization," was listed as notable in The Best American Essays 2014. Anna is currently working on White Rez Kid: An Improvised Life, the story of a Third Culture Kid (TCK) that explores the fluidity of identity, language, colonization and occupation, race relationships, the morality of missions, and intercultural contact.

Anna's YA biography, Viktor Frankl: A Life Worth Living, (Clarion, 2006), was a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, a New York Times Best Book for Teens, a Bank Street Best Children’s Book, and a School Librarians International Honor Book. It has also generated crossover interest among adults. The book is currently out of print, although a limited number of copies is available on Amazon. Viktor Frankl has been translated into Korean.

Anna was raised by evangelical, Dutch American missionary parents in the Navajo Nation. Groomed by her father to become a missionary, she left the Christian Reformed Church at 25 when she realized there was no longer a place for her there if she was to live authentically as a lesbian. After a period of denying her spirituality, she began to learn from other traditions–particularly Judaism, Buddhism, and Tantric yoga and meditation. Most recently, she conducted an experiment as to whether she could be part of a Christian faith community while no longer believing in the evangelical precepts.

Anna loves to travel, and has lived in Denmark and New Zealand. She worked as an educator and counselor for a combined 39 years and currently lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her daughter Cheyenne is becoming a librarian, which Anna enjoys vicariously.