About

Iris Keltz is an award winning journalist and author of two historical memoirs. Unexpected Bride in the Promised Land: Journeys in Palestine and Israel (Nighthawk Press, 2017) won four awards including Nautilus gold and 1st place from the National Federation of Press Women. Keltz might be the only American-Jew to have found sanctuary with a Palestinian family in Ramallah during the 1967 War, also known as the 6-Day War, a war that changed the face of the Middle East— again. Her personal stories are laden with historical information offering valuable insights into the heart of this ongoing tragedy. 

          Scrapbook of a Taos Hippie: Tribal Tales from the Heart of a Cultural Revolution (Cinco Puntos Press, 2000) won the Willa Literary award in 2001 for best memoir and was listed as one of the top ten reads of the century in New Mexico Magazine. Through vignettes, oral histories, photographs and cultural artifacts, the book documents heroic efforts of young urban dropouts to create a utopian society. 

          As an award winning free-lance journalist, Keltz articles, essays, and Op-Eds have appeared in national, print, and electronic media. She is a co-founder of Jewish Voice for Peace-Albuquerque. Retired from forty-years as an educator,  Keltz remains living in the Rio Grande Valley forever in love with walking rain clouds, adobe homes, chile, magnificent sunsets and the ever changing mountains.