Posted on: Sunday, February 16, 2003

Pidgin activist, Maui poet win Cades Award

"Da Pidgin Guerrilla" Lee Tonouchi and Maui poet Eric Paul Shaffer have been named winners of the 2002 Elliott Cades Award for Literature.

Tonouchi, well-known for his ceaselessly re-created campaign for pidgin pride (he's done everything from performances to bumper stickers), is editor of Hybolics magazine and author of "Da Word." He is compiling a Pidgin dictionary.

Shaffer, the author of the poetry collections "Portable Planet" (Leaping Dog, 2000) and "Living at the Monastery, Working in the Kitchen," (Leaping Dog, 2001) moved to upcountry Maui in 1998 with his wife, teacher Veronica Winegarner; he teaches at Maui Community College.

The award will be given March 20. Details of the ceremony are being worked out.