532 Elepaio Street
Honolulu,
HI
96816
Phone:
760.727.2850
E-mail:
Publications and Prizes
Prizes Won:
2018 Redwood Empire Mensa Award for Creative Nonfiction, Resident Writer at the The Åland Islands Residency (Finland), Resident Scholar at Earthskin Muriwai (New Zealand), Official Selection for the 2016 One Act Festival at New York's Secret Theatre, New York Mills Cultural Center Artist in Residence, Ad Hoc Flash Fiction Award, Second Place Brilliant Flash Fiction Award, Jodi Stutz Memorial Prize in Poetry, Ann Fields Poetry Prize, Academy of American Poets Poetry Prize, Browning Society Award for Dramatic Monologue, Arts Council Silicon Valley Artist Fellowships for Poetry and The Novel, Visiting Writer Fellowship for International Writers Conference in Hong Kong, First Place in Poetry by San Diego Book Awards Association, First Place in Alsop Review Fiction Competition, Editor's Circle Award in Poetry Magazine, First Place in The Political Poet Poetry Competition (in Honor of Walt Whitman), Finalist in The Bevel Summers Story Prize, Honolulu Weekly Poetry Prize, Honolulu Weekly Essay Prize, Second Place Prairie Schooner Nonfiction Award, Finalist in The Tony Quagliano International Poetry Award, Muses Review Poet Neophyte of the Month, Featured Writer of the Month at Crack the Spine Literary Magazine, Featured Writer at Embodied Effigies Magazine, Ka Palapala Po'okela Book Awards Honorable Mention, Seven Certificates of Excellence from the San Diego Book Awards, Five Pushcart Prize Nominations, Short List Bath Flash Fiction Award, Featured Writer of the Month at Kona Public Library, Certificate of Recognition by the California State Assembly, Who's Who in the West, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World.
Personal Favorites
What I'm Reading Now:
The Bridge by
, The Sufferings of Young Werther by
, Djinn by
, The Candles of your Eyes by
, Thousand Cranes by
Favorite Books:
Dubliners, In Our Time, The Great Gatsby, The Sun Also Rises, Light in August, The Wasteland, A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man, Death In Venice, A Season in Hell, Seven Plays (Shepard), The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath, Notes From The Underground
Reviews, Recordings, and Interviews
More Information
Listed as:
Fiction Writer, Poet
Gives readings:
Yes
Travels for readings:
Yes
Identifies as:
Pacific Islander
Prefers to work with:
Adults, Seniors
Fluent in:
English
Born in:
Honolulu, HI
Raised in:
Honolulu, HI
work_excerpt:
Strolling Helsinki
Neoclassic bones crumble. The 18th Century is propped by scaffolding along South Harbour yet visible under sheets of plastic. I’m struck by the stench of feces outside Hotel Kämp. Cracked pipes? I squint my vulture eyes: tourists swarm the Esplanadi for another free concert. A Finnish band sings “Black Magic Woman” to a Cuban couple doing the Salsa. I smell fish frying at the wharf. The Estonians are magicians with spatulas, flipping filets with crusty edges. I vow to purchase juniper coasters and peruse the postcards. Stamps too expensive. One day I will cross paths with Lasse Virén and ask about the Olympics. I imagine that Viking face tightening while contemplating his answer. I reach booths with red and orange canvas tops—the fish girl from Turku beckons from behind a greasy apron. I must dine before these vendors close at dusk, before the water trucks arrive to squirt apples and trash into Market Square gutters.
I feel good incognito. Is this the aftermath of lust? Perhaps there was too much heat between us to make what we did count. I struggle to remember your face, to recall the pitch of your cry. Steam rises off the blackened salmon stuck to the end of my fork.
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last updated: Mar 14, 2019