Irvina Kanarek is a writer, street artist, and mental health speaker. She is the author of How To: Rewrite Beautiful, a self-published memoir and self-help workbook for young adults. The book has been used in narrative therapy groups and as a curriculum for her mental health prevention nonprofit, Rewrite Beautiful, which combined education and street art. In six years, the organization served more than 6,000 people from the U.S. to Korea.

She is currently at work on Hearsay, a work of narrative nonfiction about justice, legal history, and her father, Irving Kanarek—the rocket scientist–turned–criminal defense attorney, best known for representing Charles Manson. Blending biography and memoir, the book examines American justice, mental illness, and identity, showing how one man’s life left enduring questions of law and culture.

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Her journalism and essays have appeared in Knock LA, the Orange County Register, the Los Angeles Times, and across feminist and healthcare platforms. She’s delivered talks across the U.S. and has worked in the mental healthcare field for more than a decade. Her commentary has aired on the Trinity Broadcasting Network and reached diverse audiences through workshops, schools, and street art installations.

Irvina holds an MFA in Creative Writing and a BA in Photojournalism. She is currently a presenter with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Her creative and advocacy work centers themes of outsider identity, systemic injustice, and the power of telling inconvenient truths.