Writer Feature: Kimberly Heiman
The Writer's Notebook
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The Writer's Notebook *
Kimberly W. Heiman lives in the United States in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Kimberly is originally from Ashton, Iowa, and lived in Japan for six years. She is one of IHRAM’s treasured writers. In this interview, she shares her musings, inspiration, and honest thoughts on her experience with us as an author and activist.
Her latest publication with IHRAM Press is Quaking, a non-fiction essay in IHRAM Quarterly: Childhood Dreams & Aspirations. Her work was nominated by IHRAM for the Best American Short Stories Anthology.
Thank you for all you do, Kimberly.
Now be honest, how has your experience been with IHRAM Press? How did you find us and why did you choose to publish with us?
I found IHRAM through Chill Subs. I was looking for a home for my essay about being a foreigner living in Japan during the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995, and the themed call fit my essay’s focus. I enjoyed working with IHRAM Press’s kind, caring staff.
Would you recommend IHRAM Press to other writers/artists?
I highly recommend IHRAM Press. It is an excellent literary magazine.
Share a couple of quotes from your written piece/s published in IHRAM Literary Magazine 2024!
“Time slows when the world writhes, but nothing freezes.”
“Many older apartment buildings were missing their sixth floor, smashed flat between the fifth and seventh, like a magician ripping a tablecloth out, leaving wine glasses standing above and the table below.”
“In places, the train rails snaked, forming large S-shapes. I tried to comprehend the force needed to bend railroad ties.”
“A woman grabbed what we had to offer, her eyes filled with something dark. I remember feeling accused by her eyes, accused of surviving, accused of being a foreigner gawking at her loss, accused of not bringing more.”
Now for the fun questions! What compels you to pick up a pen or open your laptop to free-write? And what inspires/influences your writing, particularly when it comes to addressing human rights issues?
Writing, for me, comes from a need to understand myself and the world. By striking the keyboard or penning the words, I bring my emotions out of the murky depth of reaction and yank them into focus. Writing links disparate ideas spinning in my head, the juxtaposition often clarifying what is writhing within me. Writing helps me process my reactions, helps me find courage, empathy and understanding. Writing is finding the words and the meaning behind the words. It is powerfully introspective and, when shared, allows others to understand what I fought so hard to understand in myself.
The human rights concerns addressed in the IHRAM literary magazine are often complex and challenging to navigate. How do you navigate the balance between highlighting these challenges and maintaining a sense of hope or optimism in your writing?
At the core of most of my writing, I’m seeking hope in the face of the complex challenges of inequity, environmental devastation, and othering. Hope comes, in part, from understanding. If we can understand the core of the challenges and why they are occurring, the likelihood of working toward solutions increases. Writing shares perspectives, insights, and emotions with others. It spreads understanding in a very human way. Change can only happen with understanding.
How do you personally connect with our mission? Particularly on the power of art and literature to influence social change, and our values of beauty as a fundamental creative principle, sincerity, vulnerability, celebrating diversity, and opening doorways of engagement.
Stories have power. A good story grips the mind, nibbles at the edges of belief, and causes us to think, reflect, and grow. Storytelling can educate us about the plight of others and break down our separation from our neighbors. If we feel closer and more connected to one another, the likelihood of social change increases. As a scientist turned educator turned writer, I’m realizing more and more that graphs and facts don’t sway people, but a heartfelt, insightful story can. I’ve always wanted to be part of the solution and I am finding that storytelling is one of the most powerful tools to create opportunities for social change.
The IHRAM magazine aims to celebrate authors contending with their identities within the context of their environments. How does your environment influence your view of the world (your home country, city, and surrounding culture)?
I spent part of my childhood living in Japan, experiencing being a minority and not fitting in. Simultaneously, I had the opportunity to observe a different culture’s approach to common societal concerns. The USA often promotes a motto that its approach to everything is “the best” or the “greatest.” Living outside of one's own country, you quickly realize there are many different ways society can organize and deal with common community issues. Within that diversity of human society and experience, there is often no “best” or “greatest.”
In addition to living abroad, I am a biologist and find wonder and life lessons in the natural world. I learn more about myself and the world by carefully examining the human and non-human life around me. The reflective power of observation drives a lot of my writing.
In comparison, how does your intersectionality influence your view of the world (your personal beliefs, gender expression, religious affiliations, etc.)?
As a biologist, I know life is resilient and able to adapt and evolve, but I also know it can be snuffed out. The living parts of our world have a lot to teach us.
I want to use my training as a scientist, educator, and writer to blend those three ways of knowing and seek a greater understanding of this lush, inspiring, frustrating, and confusing world we live in.
Support Activist Writers
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Support Activist Writers *
Read and enjoy all of Kimberly’s previously published work:
“Cake” on Flash Fiction Magazine, 2025
“Quaking” IHRAM Press, Quarter 3 Literary Magazine: Childhood Dreams and Aspirations, 2024
You can find Kimberly on Linkedin: kimberly-heiman-bba098257, Instagram: @kimberwheiman, Facebook: @kimberly.heiman.9, and Bluesky: @kimberlywheiman.bsky.social.
