Posted on: Sunday, August 4, 2002

Yamanaka, Altizer awarded literature laurels

By Wanda Adams
Advertiser Staff Writer

Lois-Ann Yamanaka and Nell Altizer were named Hawai'i Award for Literature recipients in a ceremony last week in the office of Gov. Ben Cayetano.

The award is given by the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts and the Hawai'i Literary Arts Council as public recognition of writers who have contributed to the artistic life of the state.

Yamanaka, the belated Year 2000 award winner, is arguably the best-known fiction writer in the Islands, with four novels ("Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers," "Blu's Hanging," "Heads by Harry" and "Father of the Four Passages"), one poetry collection ("Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre") and one work for young readers ("Name Me Nobody") to her credit. She has two new works due for publication, a novel called "Behold the Many" and a picture book, "Snow Angel, Sand Angel."

A former teacher, Yamanaka works with the Farrington Complex and is a scriptotherapist for Catholic Charities, Kupono Learning Center and the prison system.

Altizer has influenced many local writers over the years as poet and as a professor of English at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa. She retired from UH in June after 35 years of teaching. Altizer is the author of "The Widow's Suite," "The Man Who Died En Route" and most recently, "Thin Place." Her work has been published in numerous literary magazines. She received the Juniper Prize from the University of Massachusetts Press as well as distinguished teaching awards from UH and the University of California-Berkeley.

Both Yamanaka and Altizer are past recipients of the Cades Award for Literature.