Local Author - Rita Hanner-Ward

The library is hosting a book talk by local author Rita Hanner‑Ward 

About the Author

Rita Hanner‑Ward is a former museum curator and media contributor. Colorado‑raised and now based in Sun City West, Arizona, she brings a wide range of passions to her creative life. When she isn’t writing, she can be found volunteering with hospice, hand‑building with clay, or caring for her loyal companion, Zorro.

Writing as Kiva Wolfe, she debuted her novel Red Flash in 2006 and republished it independently in 2025, followed by its sequel, Tears of Iemanjá, in 2026. She is currently working on a new book slated for release later this year.

Her work extends beyond fiction into essays, media contributions, and poetry, where she explores themes of memory, grief, and redemption. The recent releases of Her Inconvenient Elegy: A Life in Fragments (2025) and Her Song of Sorrows: A Quiet Mourning in Verse (2026) mark significant milestones in her evolving and deeply resonant body of work.

Poetry Books by Rita Hanner-Ward

Her Song of Sorrows — A Quiet Mourning in Verse: A lyrical exploration of mourning in all its forms. Each poem becomes a song—tender, unguarded, and profoundly human—sung by a writer who understands that grief is not only an emotional landscape but also a creative one. Here, the end of a story, the closing of a book, or the death of a character echoes the ache of real-world partings. The writer’s loss becomes a mirror for the reader’s own. With clarity and compassion, this collection traces the arc of sorrow and the unexpected beauty that emerges when we allow ourselves to feel it fully. These poems speak to anyone who has lost or is losing someone they love, offering not answers but companionship, resonance, and the gentle reminder that moving forward is its own kind of grace.

Her Inconvenient Elegy — A Life in Fragments: A poetic meditation on the messiness of memory, the weight of grace, and the quiet rituals of survival, through deeply reflective pieces—a collection of poems charting the contours of real life: its pain, its absurdity, its tenderness, and its fleeting moments of redemption. Each poem is a vessel, shaped by grief and humor, filled with the residue of what’s been lost and the fragile hope of what remains. Whether sifting through the detritus of a loved one’s belongings or kneeling on the bathroom floor, these works invite the reader to witness sorrow not as spectacle, but as a shared inheritance. This is an elegy without ornament—unapologetically inconvenient, achingly human, and quietly transformative.

Fiction Books by Rita Hanner-Ward (writing as Kiva Wolfe)

Red Flash:When Dominick Stanovic, a dashing former triathlete, learns the Russian Mafia killed his nephew, he stumbles upon a gem smuggling scheme involving his older brother, the Red mafia, and a powerful Brazilian criminal organization. From Denver’s historic Capitol Hill to the far reaches of the Amazon, mayhem and double crosses abound in this smart, sexy, and suspenseful adventure about an immigrant family’s lust for gems and the rumored discovery of a fabled diamond. Murder, obsession, betrayal, and a missing shipment of rare tourmalines from Brazil will rip a family’s fragile bond and push two brothers to the edge. Everyone wants to steal these valuable gemstones – someone who will kill to do it and some who will die trying.

Tears of Iemanjá:  In Tears of Iemanjá, the explosive sequel to Red Flash, Dominick Stanovic returns to Brazil chasing a ghost—and a promise. A cryptic message hints that his lover, Mala, might still be alive. But their reunion in Salvador is dangerous: she’s pregnant, in a marriage of convenience, and closely watched by her brother Orlando, a rising power within the ruthless Filhos de Santos syndicate. The Filhos elders haven’t forgotten the betrayals that cost them dearly. Mala’s life—and that of her unborn child—hangs in the balance. To save her, Dominick must risk death by resuming his failed quest for a legendary diamond and journeying deeper into the Amazon one last time. But the jungle doesn’t forgive, nor do the men who still hunt for a missing shipment of rare Brazilian tourmalines. Gems so coveted they’ve already claimed the lives of two people close to Dominick—his 10-year-old nephew and his older brother Serg. From shadowed alleyways to tangled rainforest, every step brings him closer to the truth—and to enemies who would rather see him dead than let him succeed.