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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, November 11, 2003

Writers to tackle issues of identity

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

HARJO
The fifth annual Hawai'i Fall Celebration of Writers promises to be a feast for people who like their literary fare slow-simmered in history, politics and cultural awareness.

Thursday's open gathering at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa brings together an impressive collection of poets, playwrights and other writers, including Mart’n Espada, Joy Harjo, Haunani-Kay Trask and Kathleen Tyau. The free event includes a pair of afternoon panels and an evening reading by Espada, Harjo, Trask and Tyau, each of whom are known for their powerful stage performances. It's presented by the UH-Manoa English Department's creative-writing program.

 •  Schedule of events

The Fifth Annual Hawai'i Fall Celebration of Writers — "Visions of (Dis)Location: Native, Immigrant, Settler."

Thursday. Free; 956-7619.

Noon-1:30 p.m.: "Who Owns the Past?" — panel discussion with Joy Harjo, Victoria Kneubuhl and Kathleen Tyau, moderated by Gary Pak. Kuykendall Auditorium, University of Hawai'i-Manoa.

3-4:30 p.m.: "The Stories They Tell About Us" — panel discussion with Tammy Haili'opua Baker, Lee Cataluna, Mart’n Espada and Haunani-Kay Trask, moderated by Rodney Morales, Kuykendall Auditorium.

6:30 p.m.: Book fair, UH-Manoa Art Auditorium.

7 p.m.: Reading featuring Mart’n Espada, Joy Harjo, Haunani-Kay Trask and Kathleen Tyau, UH-Manoa Art Auditorium.

'He Leo Hou: A New Voice'

Reception for a Bamboo Ridge publication release

7 p.m. tomorrow, University of Hawai'i-Manoa Art Auditorium

Actors from Kumu Kahua read stage works by Alani Apio, Tammy Haili'opua Baker, Lee Cataluna and Victoria Kneubuhl at 7:30 p.m

This year's theme — "Visions of (Dis)Location: Native, Immigrant, Settler" — grew out of Harjo's presence at the UH English Department. Harjo, a Native American poet and musician from Oklahoma, is spending the semester in Hawai'i as a distinguished visiting writer. Harjo teaches American Indian studies and English at UCLA. She has written seven poetry collections, including "How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems" and "A Map to the New World: Poems."

Harjo has "done a lot of things with the idea of 'indigenous,' " said Rodney Morales, UH creative-writing director. "So we built it around that and the notion of 'place' — what is your place?

"That led to the idea of location and dis-location," Morales said. "Where are you located? What does it mean to be a Native American woman in Hawai'i? In Espada's case, what does it mean to be Puerto Rican in New York?"

Morales recruited Espada, an award-winning poet and educator, for the "Visions of (Dis)Location" festival.

Espada, who grew up in New York and now teaches English at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, has published several volumes of poetry, including "Imagine the Angels of Bread," which won an American Book Award, and his latest collection, "A Mayan Astronomer in Hell's Kitchen."

Morales is old friends with Espada's father, Frank, a photographer and civil-rights activist who once marched alongside Martin Luther King.

Trask, a UH professor of Hawaiian studies, was a natural choice to present a Hawaiian academic and literary perspective.

Trask's two poetry collections — "Light in the Crevice Never Seen" and "Night is a Sharkskin Drum" combined traditional lyrical Hawaiian voice and political-resistance poetry in ways that might surprise people who only know of her through her controversial statements in the news media.

Tyau is the author of "Hawaii: A Little Too Much is Enough" (winner of the 1996 Pacific Northwest Bookseller's Association Award) and "Makai." She grew up in Waikiki and Pearl City before moving to Oregon in the 1960s.

Like Harjo, Tyau also expresses herself musically. She sings and plays bluegrass music on mandolin and guitar.

This year's celebration coincides with the release of the new Bamboo Ridge publication, "He Leo Hou: A New Voice," featuring work from local playwrights Alani Apio ("Kamau"), Tammy Haili'opua Baker ("Kupua"), Lee Cataluna ("Da Mayah") and Victoria Kneubuhl ("Ka Wai Ola").

Baker, Cataluna and Kneubuhl will participate in the UH iterary festival's panel discussions.

All four Bamboo Ridge playwrights will also be on hand for a "He Leo Hou" release party and reading (featuring actors from Kumu Kahua) tomorrow at the UH-Manoa Art Auditorium.

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 535-2461.