​

 

Rena's first chapter of her completed literary memoir, The Plunge: An Unexpected Adventure in Love, was long listed for the CBC 2017 Nonfiction Prize and that book (her first) is now on the market, seeking representation.

 

Her work has also been published in the Cobalt Review, The Bookends Review and in the inaugural "red issue" edition of Chroma Magazine. Two of her pieces, "Nymph Skin" and "No Roses in Roseville" have been shortlisted in The Writer's Union of Canada 21st Annual Short Prose Competition and Malahat Review Open Season Awards. In 2019, Tricycle Magazine published two of her articles online: "Emptiness and Filling Out Forms: A Practical Approach to Death" and "Prejudice and Pride: A Tibetan Buddhist practitioner asks her teacher how to take pride in one’s practice without becoming arrogant."

​

Born and raised in the US, Rena now makes her home on Galiano Island, a one-hour ferry ride from Vancouver, BC. As a graduate of Simon Fraser University’s The Writer’s Studio, she maintains an active presence in the local writing community and was 2016/2017 Co-host for the TWS Reading Series.

 

Her first career of thirty years began after receiving her education in interior design from California College of the Arts in Oakland, California. Rena spent the first fifteen years of her career in San Francisco, before also working professionally Seattle, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Vancouver and Los Angeles.

 

She left her design career in 2009 to pursue a second career as a writer and editor. Her work specializes in creative nonfiction: personal stories and essays, literary memoir, biography and autobiography.

​

In March of 2017, NAMW (National Association of Memoir Writers) featured her as member of the month.