OF BOOKS AND WRITERS
Classic pidgin poetry re-released in new book
By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Books Editor
If you're headed out to the Hawai'i All-Collectors Show at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall today, stop by the Bamboo Ridge Press booth and encounter an island classic: The book is "Chalookyu eensai" (Try look, you, inside) by bradajo, a groundbreaking book of pidgin poems originally published 30 years ago and now re-released. Jozuf Hadley — bradajo — has returned to Hawai'i after a long career as an art teacher in Vermont; he is originally from Kaua'i. Try go see how pidgin wen change.
Seeking all writers
The Maui Writers Conference Labor Day weekend at the Outrigger Wailea Resort is reaching out to kama'aina this year more than in the past because out-of-town registration numbers are slightly down because of some post-Sept. 11 economizing.
The annual event features a long roster of big-name writers, more than 90 seminars, workshops and events, and this year is offering more hands-on approaches in the cookbook writing and screenwriting segments and a new travel-writing track. Registration deadlines have passed for the pre-conference retreats and manuscript marketplace but those who register by Aug. 1 can get a $50 discount off the conference fee of $695. Find out more: Maui Writers Conference, P.O. Box 118, Kihei, HI 96753; toll-free (888) 974-8373; www.mauiwriters.com. Conference rate at the Outrigger Wailea is $179 a night Aug. 19-Sept. 6. Call (800) 367-2960.
Enter your work
Bamboo Ridge literary magazine has extended a call for entries for its fall 2003 25th anniversary issue. Prizes will be awarded for the best poem and short story ($500 each) and for the best work by a writer never before published by Bamboo Ridge Press ($250). Submissions may consist of up to 12 pages of poetry or up to 25 double-spaced pages of prose. Send submission to Bamboo Ridge Press, P.O. Box 61781, Honolulu, HI 96839-1781 by Jan. 31. Send stamped, self-addressed envelope if you want manuscript returned.
Also from Bamboo Ridge: The second annual Bamboo Ridge Writers Institute, beginning with a reading 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25 and a day of activities including panels, workshops and open-mike readings, 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Oct. 26 at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa Campus Center. Participating: Lee Cataluna, Eric Chock, Marie Hara, Lisa Kanae, Nora Okja Keller, Juliet Kono, Victoria Kneubuhl, Wing Tek Lum, Chris McKinney, Ian McMillan, Michael McPherson, Ed Sakamoto, Cathy Song, Lee A. Tonouchi, Cedric Yamanaka, Lois-Ann Yamanaka and others. Registration fee is $55 before Sept. 1, $75 after; student registration, $40; bento lunch, $5. An additional master workshop is $50. Information about either Bamboo Ridge activity: 626-1481.
