Raylene Hinz-Penner

Justa’s Escape

History & Biography

“In the lyric simplicity of free verse, this young girl’s coming-of-age story is heartrending for its honesty. Yet, it is a tribute to life and hope in its recall of the specific details of village life. Memorably recorded details tell us we were alive in this world and that our lives mattered. . . . Faithfulness to a girl’s real lived experience makes this story beautiful, timeless, powerful, and necessary.”

The Blistering Morning Mist

History & Biography

“With a gift for pinpoint, precise detail, Kurtz textures the architectures of her many homes in Kentucky, Iowa, Botswana, Pennsylvania, and Virginia as the eldest daughter after her father’s untimely young death—the defining feature of her life. She documents honestly her restless need to become unbound, writing movingly of the interior life, wrestling her anger and fear into fulfillment and belief in self.”