Our ongo­ing series of inter­views with Native Hawai­ian and local Hawaiʻi writ­ers con­tin­ues this week with Caren Loebel-Fried, the tal­ent­ed award-win­ning author/illustrator. 

Alo­ha, Caren. For those who haven’t met you, could you please tell us a lit­tle about yourself?

Alo­ha, Kamalani. I’m an artist and author from Vol­cano, on Hawai’i’s Big Island. My favorite things are explor­ing wild places, watch­ing and learn­ing about birds, mak­ing art and telling sto­ries about these things.

Where did you grow up? 

I grew up on the New Jer­sey shore, going to the beach in the summer.

Who is your biggest supporter?

My hus­band encour­ages and cheers me on, and some­times joins me on my research adven­tures. Many biol­o­gists, cul­tur­al prac­ti­tion­ers, teach­ers, and librar­i­ans also sup­port my work, and help me get the sto­ry right.

Why did you become a writer/illustrator?

My mom is an artist and still is my great­est inspi­ra­tion. I was always drawn to mak­ing art. And my art has always told sto­ries. When I had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to cre­ate books, I worked to be a bet­ter writer. Now I tell sto­ries with words AND pictures.

What inspired you to write for children?

Pic­ture books were a nat­ur­al fit for me. But I have to admit, I cre­ate my books for all ages — kei­ki and the adults who read to them, and any­one who enjoys a com­pelling sto­ry. I’ve always loved read­ing books writ­ten for all ages, and I col­lect art-filled books that inspire me, no mat­ter what age they are intend­ed for. 

What do you enjoy most about cre­at­ing for kids?

I love shar­ing with a curi­ous audi­ence, and most kei­ki are open and curious.

What are some of your great­est challenges?

My aim is to be a voice for wildlife. My great­est chal­lenge is per­suad­ing peo­ple to care about and want to help native species. I try to do this in a fun way, by cre­at­ing engag­ing sto­ries and art that cap­ture the spir­it and per­son­al­i­ty of the indi­vid­ual ani­mal (includ­ing human!), plant, the nat­ur­al ele­ments and envi­ron­men­tal fea­tures that are my sub­jects… I aim to make art that is col­or­ful, engag­ing, alive. I am also inter­est­ed in cul­ture and how we humans live in our world, inter­act with our envi­ron­ment, and our con­nec­tion to place. Many of us have lost a feel­ing of con­nec­tion to the nat­ur­al world. I try to awak­en or reawak­en that connection.

What are your hopes and dreams for the year and beyond in terms of your writing/artistic career?

This year, I’ll be work­ing on my next book with Uni­ver­si­ty of Hawai’i Press. This sto­ry is about Makani, a young Hawai­ian girl named after the wind that seabirds depend on. Makani adores ʻuaʻu, the Hawai­ian petrels that her biol­o­gist mom works with. Seabirds are so cool! But their lives are com­plete­ly hid­den from us. They live over the ocean and only come to land to breed, fly­ing in the dark of night, and nest­ing in bur­rows under­ground. I’ll be telling their amaz­ing sto­ry through the expe­ri­ence of Makani. I hope this book inspires read­ers, espe­cial­ly girls, to explore sci­ence, art, and sto­ry­telling. There are many ways to help wildlife! We can all find our own way to help pre­serve wildlife and wild places.

Do you have a website? 

I do: https://www.carenloebelfried.com/. And I have a YouTube Chan­nel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNgbp1m6lsf6d4w89oV6ung. 

What advice would you give an aspir­ing writer/illustrator?

Keep cre­at­ing! Dis­cov­er the things that are impor­tant to you and tell about them in your work!

Which char­ac­ters do you relate with eas­i­ly? Why?

My last book, Manu, The Boy Who Loved Birds, is about a young boy named after an extinct Hawai­ian for­est bird. I relate to Manu des­per­ate­ly want­i­ng to know the mean­ing of his name, and leav­ing no stone unturned in his jour­ney of dis­cov­ery… and also his dif­fi­cul­ty in believ­ing that extinc­tion is for­ev­er. I also relate to Manu’s par­ents, who won’t just give Manu answers, but instead give him the oppor­tu­ni­ties to make dis­cov­er­ies him­self. I tried to do this with my own son when he was grow­ing up, and now I do it with my read­ers and my books!

Thatʻs a beau­ti­ful book. What beliefs are your books challenging?

It’s hard to hear, learn, believe that things we do may be unin­ten­tion­al­ly hurt­ing wildlife. I try to present the facts, for peo­ple to know for them­selves. But I also present ways that peo­ple can help. I try to write hope­ful, inspir­ing sto­ries and give peo­ple the tools to be an active part of the solution.

Where do you get your ideas and inspirations?

I see some­thing cool out in nature almost every­where and think, Wow- THAT would make a great storybook!

Maha­lo, Caren, for allow­ing me to inter­view you and for shar­ing your man­aʻo! To learn more about Caren, and to see a gallery of art pieces and to con­tact Caren Loebel-Fried, please vis­it Carenʻs web­site.