Book Release and Signing to Highlight Wildlife Conservation

Photo courtesy of Volcano Art Center.

Volcano Art Center (VAC) will host a book release and signing event for award-winning local author and artist Caren Loebel-Fried on Thursday, Sept. 28, from 7 to 9 p.m. at its Niaulani Campus.

The featured book is Loebel-Fried’s “A Perfect Day for an Albatross,” a picture book following the life of an albatross on Midway Atoll as she struggles to protect her eggs until her mate returns. The book features block print art and flowing watercolors, immersing readers in a lively world of wind, rolling seas and boisterous dancing.

Loebel-Fried spent five weeks on Midway Atoll researching albatrosses, and conveys her passion for wildlife conservation through the book’s artwork and narrative. The Volcano resident makes birds, conservation and the natural world the focus of her work.

Loebel-Fried has created seven storybooks including Hawaiian Legends of the Guardian Spirits and Lono and the Magical Land Beneath the Sea. Her books have received honors including the American Folklore Society’s Aesop Prize for Children’s Folklore and the Hawai’i Book Publishers Association’s Ka Palapala Po’okela Awards. Through her work, she hopes to bring people, especially children, closer to the natural world in the hopes of inspiring them to better care for it.

Caren Loebel-Fried sketching a picture illustrating her book. Photo: Dan Clark/USFWS.

Guest speaker Cynthia Vanderlip will also attend the event to share her experiences on Kure Atoll. Vanderlip has worked in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands since 1989 as a volunteer, technician, biologist, naturalist and U.S. Coast Guard-licensed boat captain. Since 2002, she has led field camps at Kure Atoll for the State of Hawaiʻi, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife.

Copies of “A Perfect Day for an Albatross” as well as original framed art and giclees from the book will be available for sale after the presentations.

Part of a monthly evening Thursday night series at VAC, the book release event will be free to attend. VAC encourages a $5 donation.

VAC’s Niaulani Campus is located at 19-4074 Old Volcano Road in Volcano Village. For more information, call (808) 967-8222 or visit www.volcanoartcenter.org.