If anyone is interested in local/Hawaiian/Pacific poetry, there are two events coming up this week that you might be interested in.
The first is a poetry reading by Ryan Oishi, Tiare Picard, Sage Takehiro, and others this Monday, April 14, at 8 pm @ Jazz Minds (1661 Kapiolani Blvd., near 24 Hour Fitness). They're calling it "Doing it on the Lanai," it's a fundraiser for a new literary hui that they are starting up to publish poetry and other creative projects. Tickets are $10 (it's for a good cause).
The second event is being put on by a student-run press that I'm a (small) part of, and it's a book launch for a very talented poet from Pohnpei:
BOOK LAUNCH
My Urohs
by Pohnpeian writer and poet, Emelihter Kihleng
Date: Thursday, 17 April 2008
Time: 6:00-8:00 pm
Place: Halau o Haumea, UHM Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies
"[Emelihter Kihleng's] poetry is refreshingly innovative and compelling, a new way of seeing ourselves in our islands, an important and influential addition to our literature." -- Albert Wendt, from the cover of My Urohs.
Emelihter Kihleng's first collection of poems, My Urohs, is engaging from the beginning. Published by Kahuaomanoa Press, My Urohs is the first collection in English by a Micronesian poet--one of the most gifted young writers in the Pacific. She writes of Micronesian islands and Micronesian women and men in their home islands and in the diaspora--"ethnographic poetry," as described by writer and poet Teresia Teaiwa.
Emelihter Kihleng received her MA in creative writing from the University of Hawai`i at Manoa and taught at the College of Micronesia-FSM, Pohnpei Campus. Her poems have been published in a number of venues, including Trout, Chain, Bamboo Ridge, and Tinfish.
Her book launching and visit to Hawai`i are sponsored by Kahuaomanoa Press, the Diversity and Equity Initiative at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa, the UHM Student Activity Program and Fee Board, the UHM Center for Pacific Islands Studies, and the UHM English Department. Ms Kihleng will also be visiting Hawai`i Community College, University of Hawai`i at Hilo, and UH-West O`ahu.
For information, contact Brandy Nalani McDougall, Kahuaomanoa Press, at (808) 956-3031, or brandynm@hawaii.edu.
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