About the Author

Dr. Donna Stevens Kehl, Ed.D., is a writer and educator whose work explores family estrangement, intergenerational healing, resilience, creativity, and meaning-making through difficult experiences.

She is the author of Seven Stitches in Neverland: A Daughter, Her Homeless Mother, and the Peter Pan Costumes that Mended the Past, a memoir about rescuing her estranged mother from homelessness and confronting the complicated history that separated them. The prologue, “Lost and Found,” was a finalist in the 2025 San Francisco Writers’ Conference Writing Contest and appears in The Words You Were Looking For: An Anthology of Winners and Finalists from the 2025 San Francisco Writers’ Conference Writing Contests.

Donna writes two Substack columns. Healing Mother Wounds: For daughters and caretakers finding their way back after years of silence. Moonstone Magic features personal essays, poetry, stories, and vignettes inspired by nature, creativity, and reflection.

Before turning more fully to writing, Donna spent twenty-four years in education and theatre arts, teaching middle school drama and directing large-scale youth productions. She earned her Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership from the University of La Verne in 2021, where her research examined how participation in theatre arts can improve social functioning skills in middle school adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.

Across memoir, essays, poetry, and other creative work, Donna writes about losing connection, seeking understanding, and finding a way forward. Her work sparks conversations about estrangement, homelessness, family trauma, forgiveness, creativity, healing, and acceptance.