Redsand, Anna 1948–

PERSONAL:

Born 1948, in Grand Rapids, MI; children: one daughter.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Albuquerque, NM. E-mail—aredsand@yahoo.com.

CAREER:

High school guidance counselor and writer. Also worked as an elementary, high-school, and college writing teacher.

MEMBER:

Authors Guild, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People designation, National Council for the Social Studies/Children's Book Council, Best Children's Books of the Year designation, Bank Street College of Education, and Books for the Teen Age designation, New York Public Library, all 2007, all for Viktor Frankl: A Life Worth Living.

WRITINGS:

Viktor Frankl: A Life Worth Living, Clarion Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Also author of short stories and poetry.

SIDELIGHTS:

As a child, Anna Redsand always wanted to become a writer. At age eight she carried around a pocket-sized journal, the contents of which she read to her family. ‘Reading and writing have always been my favorite things to do,’ Redsand explained on her home page. In her work as a high school guidance counselor, Redsand often utilizes the principles of logotherapy, and this motivational philosophy inspired her first published book. Logotherapy is a type of psychotherapy that relies on the belief that a human's primary goal is to find meaning in his or her life. The founder of logotherapy, noted psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, is the topic of Redsand's award-winning biography Viktor Frankl: A Life Worth Living. Redsand was introduced to Frankl's logotherapy principle during college, and when she learned about his life and theories, the man became her hero: ‘For the first time, I read something hopeful that came out of a person's direct experience of the horrors of the Holocaust,’ Redsand explained on her home page.

Born in Austria in 1905 to Jewish parents, Frankl ultimately lost his parents at Auschwitz and his wife at Bergen-Belsen. Sent to the concentration camp at Türkheim, Frankl survived Nazi brutality, and translated his experiences into theory in Man's Search for Meaning, one of the most influential books to address the Holocaust. In Viktor Frankl, Redsand details Frankl's childhood years, his life as a psychiatrist, and his contributions as a Holocaust survivor up until his death in 1997. Acknowledging Redsand for detailing the life of one of the most respected psychiatrists of the twentieth century, Rita Soltan wrote in School Library Journal that the author ‘successfully illuminates how the Holocaust deeply affected Frankl's life and career.’ An online reviewer for the Internet Bookwatch called Viktor Frankl ‘a powerful blend of Holocaust images, history, and facts."

Discussing her own life purpose, Redsand told CA: ‘Vicktor Frankl found meaning in his life through helping others find meaning in theirs. Like him, I find some of my greatest satisfaction in helping people, especially young people, discover their life purpose. I want more than anything to do that through my writing, as well as in my counseling and through author visits to schools.

"For anyone considering the writing life, I would say, don't wait for big blocks of time, because you may never find them. I wrote Viktor Frankl in twenty-minute segments every morning before I left for school and in two-hour blocks on weekends. I'm lucky now to work at an afternoon and evening high school, because morning is my best writing time, and I do have more time in the mornings now."