I am excited to introduce my new book trailer for Gina in the Floating world, produced with the help of the talented Melissa Dee. It may seem odd that I've chosen to do this on the anniversary of my book launch, rather than in the beginning, but for me this was a capstone project for what has been an stimulating and busy year full of new challenges. Most of the illustrations in the video are of my own collages and watercolors that were inspired by my novel and that I have exh

During my stay in Japan several decades ago when I was a bar hostess, I lived in a room over a club. The place had only a toilet and sink downstairs. To bathe properly, I had to use the public bath (sento) nearby. This was a new experience for me, and I was very self-conscious at first, like my protagonist, Dorothy. This communal bathing eventually became an enjoyable ritual that allowed me to de-stress from my work as well as keep clean. "Ofuro," collage by Belle Brett (2019

In addition to being a writer, I am also an artist. I work in several media, but one of my favorite is paper or mixed media collage. Currently, I am working on a series of collages inspired by Gina in the Floating World, which is set in Japan in the 1980s. These collages, which are small, illustrate different aspects of my protagonist’s experiences but are not meant to be literal representations. With collage, I start with a general idea or theme. Searching through magazines,