Hers was a literary journey that took more than 20 years, but rather than throw in the towel, Rita Hanner-Ward kept writing. In her latest literary offering, “Her Inconvenient Elegy: A Life in Fragments,” the Sun City West author presents an intimate meditation on memory, grief and the quiet rituals of survival.

Though this is her first published collection of poems, Hanner-Ward is no stranger to the world of writing and publishing.

In the early 1990s, she played a role in placing her late husband’s wartime memoir, “Dear Mom: A Sniper’s Vietnam,” with Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House. An aspiring writer herself, she spent years immersed in words— between working full-time and, later, full-time caregiving, she was always writing, even if only in her mind and heart. Life’s frequent interruptions, some achingly devastating, often brought her creativity to a near standstill, but she never let go of the thread.

Now, decades later, she reclaims her voice, and “Her Inconvenient Elegy” is the result: poems that distill experience into verse, honoring the fragments that shape a life. The book is an elegy without ornament.

Having grown up in Colorado and worked as a museum curator and media contributor, Hanner-Ward now resides in Arizona, where she divides her time between writing, volunteering for Hospice, clay hand-building and caring for her loyal companion, Zorro.

Writing under the pseudonym Kiva Wolfe, she published her debut suspense-adventure novel, “Red Flash,” in 2006. When the small press behind it closed nearly a decade later, the book quietly slipped out of print. However, she has recently revived it as an independent publisher. In preparation for its release later this month, she is at work polishing its sequel, along with the first book of a brand-new limited mystery series—both slated to appear in late 2026.

Writing is still a challenging market to break into. Aware that it can take years to land a good agent and publisher, for Hanner-Ward, time and independence are no compromise. Age, health and the camaraderie of fellow writers in the Sun City West Library Writers Group have emboldened her to speak with clarity and conviction.

The publication of “Her Inconvenient Elegy – A Life in Fragments,” available in Kindle e-book, paperback and hardcover on Amazon.com, marks a milestone in her writer’s life, and from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, she will be among 20 local authors appearing at the Del Sol Gallery & Gift Shop book signing event, at 13823 W. Camino Del Sol.