About Renda Hanson
A Life Shaped By Story, Service, & the Sacred
I grew up among the red clay and pine needles of rural South Georgia, raised in a faith that shaped my early years and in a landscape that still speaks to me. Life eventually carried me across the country to North Dakota, where the open sky became a sanctuary and the prairie wind taught me its own kind of resilience.
My memoir, Where the Hummingbirds Landed — The Sea Knew My Name, traces that lifelong journey: through childhood, single motherhood, domestic abuse, grief, trauma, recovery, nursing, hospice work, breast cancer, and the sacred moments that arrived exactly when I needed them.
Writing, for me, is both an act of remembering and an act of faith — a way to make sense of the scars and the miracles that shaped me.
Professional Background
With over three decades in nursing, I’ve worked in clinics, hospice, home health, assisted living, and long-term care. I serve as the President and Co-Founder of the North Dakota Nurse Honor Guard and have devoted much of my life to caring for others at their most vulnerable. Nursing has taught me that the quietest moments often carry the most truth. Those truths have shaped my writing as deeply as they have shaped my work.
Beyond the Work
I’m a photographer with a deep love for nature — the shoreline, the sky, the prairie, the forests, the birds, the stillness. I’m a fan of mismatched socks, barefoot mornings, travel, animals, and the small joys that remind us to breathe and look up.
My writing doesn’t try to escape the hard parts. It tries to honor them — and the grace that met me along the way. Thank you for being here. I hope the stories I write help you feel a little less alone.
Interested in my writing?
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