Lani Steele

Despite a seemingly chronic inability to stay home, Lani Steele has been writing and publishing poetry, fiction, and other genres for decades. It started in fourth grade, when her teacher encouraged her to write a story instead of making a frilly valentine. She never looked back, and although she lives with one foot in California and one on the wind, writing is always a focus.

Steele’s work has appeared in over fifty local, state, national and international publications. Poetry, literary and mystery short stories, feature and travel articles, one-act plays, and educational print and media materials comprise her portfolio. Steele’s poetry has won prizes in many contests around the states, and she served for several years as Area Co-Coordinator and Poet-Teacher for California Poets in the Schools. She is a volunteer supporter of Poetry Out Loud. She is also a founder and member of the Central Coast Chapter of Sisters in Crime (crime writers). Journal publications include California State Poetry Quarterly, Napa Review, Café Solo, Dark Horse Literary Journal, Red Herring Mystery Magazine, Women’s World, Endless Vacation. Many anthologies, including the Tuesday Poets Anthology, and several Sisters in Crime compilations, contain her short stories. Steele’s first stand-alone poetry chapbook, CROWDED WITH GHOSTS, was well-received. Her non-fiction account of a motorcycle journey with her husband, SIERRA CYCLE, came out in 1988.

An Angeleno by upbringing, Steele is a proud Bruin, with BA and MA in American History, and Ph.D. in Education from UCLA. Teaching gigs in Switzerland, the Philippines, and Chad are part of her fifty years as an educator. Steele taught elementary and secondary levels, and spent twenty-six years at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo instructing and supervising future teachers. Her favorite job was teaching high level IB English at a private school in Manila, where she designed her own feminist, slightly revolutionary, minority-peoples-focussed, literary curriculum.

From educational road trips as a child to recent multi-month tours of Europe and Japan with her husband, Steele has traveled wherever and whenever she can, visiting about ninety countries so far. A son and his family in Korea make that country a frequent destination, although she struggles to learn Korean. The several homes of Pablo Neruda in Chile, and Easter Island, are on her bucket list. Because of an unconquered shopping habit, Steele’s friends often refer to her home as “Lani’s museum.” When she is at home, Steele reads,sews and quilts, gardens, hikes, plunks away on her ukulele, and plans the next trip.