Hawaii Public Radio’s Noe Tanigawa spoke briefly with one of the interviewees from Talking Hawai‘i’s Story: Oral Histories of an Island People, edited by Michi Kodama-Nishimoto, Warren S. Nishimoto, and Cynthia A. Oshiro. Listen to the interview here.
Category: Hawaii
Talking Hawaii’s Story Signings in December
On Friday, December 11, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., Michi Kodama-Nishimoto, Warren S. Nishimoto, and Cynthia A. Oshiro, coeditors of Talking Hawai‘i’s Story: Oral Histories of an Island People, will sign books at Barnes & Noble-Kāhala Mall. (For store information, call 737-3323.) Talking Hawai‘i’s Story presents a rich sampling of the landmark work done by the Center for Oral History by making available 29 first-person narratives that until now only appeared in the COH’s semi-annual newsletter.
The editors will also participate in the Saturday, December 12 Holiday Book Fair at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i, 2454 So. Beretania Street, that will take place from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. in the Community Gallery & Gift Shop. This event is free and open to the public.
Talking Hawai‘i’s Story is published by University of Hawai‘i Press for the Center for Oral History and the Center for Biographical Research. The softcover book retails for $19.00 and is generally available at island bookstores or can be ordered from UH Press by phone: 956-8255, toll free: 1-888-847-7377; email: uhpbooks@hawaii.edu; or online: www.uhpress.hawaii.edu. For event information, call 956-8697.
Jon Shirota Reading and Talk at Kapiolani Community College
More November Events!
Tuesday, November 10, 11:30-1:00, UH-Manoa Bookstore
UH Bookstore will host a multi-author book signing event, which will include UH Press authors Carlos Andrade (Ha‘ena), Ann Shea Bayer (Going Against the Grain), James Brandon (Kabuki’s Forgotten War), and Michi Kodama-Nishimoto, Warren Nishimoto, and Cynthia Oshiro (Talking Hawai‘i’s Story).
Wednesday, November 11, 2:00-3:30, Hawai‘i Okinawa Center
Readings from Uchinanchu: A History of Okinawans in Hawaii. Light refreshments will be served, free parking available. This event is co-sponsored by the Hawai‘i United Okinawa Association and UH’s Center for Oral History, Center for Okinawan Studies, and Center for Japanese Studies. For more information, contact the Center for Oral History (phone: 956-6165; email: kodamani@hawaii.edu).
Saturday, November 14, 9:00-12 noon, Oahu Urban Garden Center
“Second Saturday at the Garden” will feature landscape architect and horticultural expert Paul Weissich, who will answer questions and sign copies of Small Trees for the Tropical Landscape (also available for purchase).
And don’t forget… also this month:
—UH Press authors signing at the Daughters of Hawai‘i Annual Book Day
—book launch for Chinese Pioneer Families of Maui, Molokai, and Lanai
—talks, signings, and performances celebrating novelist and playwright Jon Shirota
UH Press Authors at the Daughters of Hawaii Annual Book Day
University of Hawai‘i Press authors Gavan Daws, Eleanor Nordyke, Art Whistler, and Bob Dye will be among the writers attending the Daughters of Hawai‘i 4th Annual Book Day, Friday, November 6, 3:00-6:00 pm, at Queen Emma Summer Palace. Purchase books at a discount and get your copies signed in time for the holidays! All proceeds from the event will go to the Daughters of Hawai‘i, in support of their mission to preserve Queen Emma Summer Palace and Hulihe‘e Palace in Kailua-Kona.
Refreshments will be served. There will be a special performance by the Queen Emma Summer Palace Ukulele Club and free tours of the Summer Palace will take place from 3:00-4:00 pm, so be sure to come early!
Hawaiian Birds of the Sea
More than 300 species of seabirds range across the world’s oceans. In excess of 14 million birds, representing nearly two dozen species, make their home in the Hawaiian islands. These are na manu kai, the birds of the sea.
More than 135 color photographs illustrate Hawaiian Birds of the Sea: Na Manu Kai, by Robert J. Shallenberger. This beautiful book showcases the seabirds of Hawai‘i—from the far eastern tip of the Big Island to the recently created Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.
A Latitude 20 Book
November 2009 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3403-6 / $21.99 (PAPER)
A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Hawaii
Hawai‘i is home to some of the most beautiful and sought after birds in the world. From the offshore waters, where graceful seabirds glide on the cool, refreshing trade winds, to the lush ancient forests of the mountains, where colorful endemic honeycreepers reside, Hawai‘i’s birds are wonderfully diverse. Introduced species and long-distance migrants contribute to the splendid assortment. Some island bird species are extremely abundant and instantly familiar since we encounter them daily in our outdoor activities. Others are so rare they are glimpsed only once in a lifetime. In these magnificent islands there is something for birders of every sort. Superbly illustrated in color by author Jim Denny and Jack Jeffrey, two of Hawai‘i’s best nature photographers, A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Hawai‘i includes nearly every species of bird on land and at sea in the main Hawaiian Islands.
A Latitude 20 Book
November 2009 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3383-1 / $19.99 (PAPER)
Jim Denny is also the author of The Birds of Kauai.
Book Launch for New Hawaii Chinese History Center Book
Join the Hawaii Chinese History Center, the Associated Chinese University Women, and United Chinese Society of Hawaii in celebrating the publication of Chinese Pioneer Families of Maui, Molokai, and Lanai.
Sunday, November 8, 1:00-3:00 pm, Kilauea Recreation Center, 4109 Kilauea Avenue, Honolulu: Co-editor Ken Yee and several of the oral history participants will be on hand to sign books. Festivities will include a lion dance, Hawaiian music of Maui and Molokai place-name songs, and simple refreshments.
Please RSVP by email (ginny96825@yahoo.com) by October 30.
Chinese Pioneer Families of Maui, Molokai, and Lanai is distributed by University of Hawai‘i Press.
Chinese Pioneer Families of Maui, Molokai, and Lanai
During the last half of the 1800s through the early 1900s Chinese migrated from their villages in the Pearl River Delta in Kwangtung Province (Guangdong) and many found their way to the neighbor islands in Hawaii. Chinese Pioneer Families of Maui, Molokai, and Lanai, edited by Ken Yee and Nancy Wong Yee, is a fascinating collection of oral histories filled with the voices of their children and grandchildren. They tell stories that are both universal and particular about the lives of the early immigrants and their families and how they adapted to their new home in the Hawaiian islands, even as they held fast to their ties to China. These colorful, multigenerational stories paint a larger picture of the cultural traditions and social life of that time and illustrate how these immigrants became part of the fabric of Hawaii. Reference materials and maps provide useful resources for those wishing to trace their own roots.
Chinese Historic Sites and Pioneer Families Series
October 2009 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3449-4 / $25.00 (PAPER)
Distributed for the Hawaii Chinese History Center
Lucky Come Hawaii Author Jon Shirota Comes Home
Nationally acclaimed author Jon Shirota, whose Lucky Come Hawaii was the first novel by an Asian American Hawai‘i author to become a bestseller, will be back in the Islands for several public appearances sponsored by the Manoa Foundation. Lucky Come Hawaii will be released in a new, revised edition in late November by Manoa: A Pacific Journal of International Writing and University of Hawai‘i Press.
Thursday, November 5, 3:00-4:30 pm: University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, Kuykendall Hall, Room 410. Shirota will talk on the Okinawan sense of place in his writings, including those in the latest Manoa journal, Voices from Okinawa.
Thursday, November 5–Sunday, December 6, various times: Kumu Kahua Theatre, 46 Merchant Street, Downtown Honolulu. Performances of Shirota’s play, Voices from Okinawa.
Monday, November 9, 5:00-6:00 pm: UH-West O‘ahu, Kuhialoko Lanai (E-Building). Shirota’s talk, “Akisamiyo! From a Pig Farmer to a Writer” will follow a reception at 4:00. This event is part of the Chancellor’s Lecture Series and is co-sponsored by the UHM Center for Okinawan Studies.
Friday, November 13, 7:00 pm: Kapi‘olani Community College, Ohi‘a Building. “A Conversation with Jon Shirota” will be hosted by Chancellor Leon Richards; part of KCC’s International Week celebration. Entertainment by Okinawan dance and sanshin performers.
Visit Voices from Okinawa Online for more information on Jon Shirota and his work.
Book Launch and Reading for Talking Hawaii’s Story
A book launch and reading for Talking Hawai‘i’s Story: Oral Histories of an Island People, edited by Michi Kodama-Nishimoto, Warren S. Nishimoto, and Cynthia A. Oshiro, is scheduled for Sunday, October 18, 2009, 2:00-3:30 pm, at the School of Architecture Auditorium, University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa. The reading will be directed and produced by Aloha Shorts. Light refreshments and free on-campus parking will be available.
This event is sponsored by the Center for Oral History, the Center for Biographical Research, and the Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities. For more information, contact the Center for Oral History (phone: 956-6259 or email: wnishimo@hawaii.edu) or the Center for Biographical Research (phone: 956-3774 or email: biograph@hawaii.edu).
Talking Hawai‘i’s Story is published by University of Hawai‘i Press for the Center for Oral History and Center for Biographical Research.
Ben Norris Retrospective in Boston
Childs Gallery in Boston is presenting a career-defining retrospective of works by Ben Norris to celebrate the recent publication of Ben Norris: American Modernist, 1910-2006, distributed by University of Hawai‘i Press for Copley Square Press. The exhibit runs to November 14, 2009. For more information, contact Childs Gallery, 169 Newbury Street, Boston, MA, 02116, 617-266-1108, email: info@childsgallery.com.
Work from the retrospective can be viewed here.
