Kauai Literature Festival on April 12th

All are invited and welcome to come and "talk story" with a panel of nationally recognized Hawai`i authors hosted by Kauai Community College.

This free celebration of literature panel was formed specifically for everyone in the KCC community and for any interested adults from the greater community. It's a wonderful opportunity to get up close and personal with established Hawai`i writers.

Come. Bring your questions. Invite your students. Experience literature. Share an evening with us. Mark your calendars.

April 12, 2013, 5:30-7:00 PM

OCET 106CD (Located next to the Bookstore)

Pupu will be provided too

Panel members:

Born and raised on O`ahu, Lisa Linn Kanae is the author of Sista Tongue, a memoir/essay that weaves the social history of Hawai`i Creole English with personal experience and Islands Linked by Ocean, a collection of short stories. Kanae’s prose and poetry have been published in Ōiwi: A Native Hawaiian Journal, Hybolics, Tinfish, Hawai`i Pacific Review and Bamboo Ridge publications. She teaches composition and literature at Kapi`olani Community College.

Kealoha is the first Poet Laureate of Hawai`i. As an internationally acclaimed poet and storyteller, he has performed throughout the world—from the White House to the `Iolani Palace, from Brazil to Switzerland. He is the first poet in Hawai`i’s history to perform at a governor’s inauguration, and in 2010 he was selected as a master artist for a National Endowment for the Arts program.

Leeward Associate Professor Juliet S. Kono publishes her first novel Anshu: Dark Sorrow. Based on historical events, Anshu is a tale of passion and human triumph in the face of extraordinary adversity, spanning the cane fields of Hawaii and the devastation in Hiroshima. Kono’s previous publications include two books of poetry, Hilo Rains and Tsunami Years; a collaborative work of linked poems with three other poets, No Choice but to Follow; a short story collection, Ho`olulu Park and the Pepsodent Smile; and a children’s book, The Bravest O`pihi.

Mark Panek’s Big Happiness: The Life and Death of a Modern Hawaiian Warrior was published last year to wide acclaim. Honolulu magazine called the story of Waikāne’s Percy Kipapa “An eloquent biography, not only of [Kipapa] . . . but of the local Waiāhole-Waikāne community in which he lived,” and “a deeply researched, insightful look at the many problems facing Hawai’i’s poor and rural neighborhoods. Big Happiness was named the winner of the 2012 Hawai i Book Publishers Association’s Ka Palapala Po’okela Award for Excellence in Nonfiction. Big Happiness was terrific follow up to his first book, Gaijin Yokozuna: A Biography of Chad Rowan. Mark’s first novel, Hawai`i will be released in March. Mark teaches a variety of highly interactive writing courses ranging from introductory composition to senior-level courses in creative writing, nonfiction writing, and composition pedagogy at the University of Hawai`i at Hilo.

Cathy Song’s credentials speak for themselves, and we are very fortunate to have a world class poet share her work at our festival. Cathy Song’s books of poetry include: Picture Bride, winner of the Yale Younger Poets Prize; Frameless Windows, Squares of Light; School Figures; The Land of Bliss; and Cloud Moving Hands. She is the recipient of many awards including the Frederich Bock Prize from Poetry; the Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, the Hawai`i Award for Literature, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, and a Pushcart prize.


Please contact me if you have any questions, but the attached flyer (pdf) says it all.

Posted by:
James M. Lee
Instructor of English
808-245-8371
james.lee@hawaii.edu