It’s time…it’s time…it’s Book End Time! Welcome to this week’s Book End, highlighting the week’s literary and library events here in Hawaiʻi.

Support our local literary scene and our local libraries by attending these events.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

Summer Reading Program

The Hawaii State Public Library System’s Summer Reading Program will begin with a big kick-off event on Tuesday, May 28. For event information click here. Registration for the free five-week program at public libraries statewide begins the same day, May 28. Participants who visit their local library and read at least one book per week are eligible to receive a free weekly reading incentive, while supplies last. There are different programs for children, teens, and even adults! For more details visit librarieshawaii.org.

Bamboo Ridge 35th Anniversary Issue Submissions

You have one week left to submit something to Bamboo Ridge for the special 35th Anniversary Issue! You must postmark your submission by Friday, May 31st. There is no specific theme, so get your writing caps on and try write! For more information visit bambooridge.com.

Messages of Peace Submissions

Messages of Peace, Hawaii Wellness Directory is sponsoring a NEW 2013 Edition so everyone can participate. Be a part of this opportunity to give your heartfelt message of encouragement,
inspiration and guidance to people around the world. Please send submissions to Lori Chaffin: hawaiiwellnessdirectory@yahoo.com. For more information, visit hawaiiwellnessmagazine.com.

Friday, May 24

• Hawaiki Rising Book Signing – Sam Low, author of Hawaiki Rising: Hōkūleʻa, Nainoa Thompson, and the Hawaiian Renaissance, a book covering the journey of the Hōkūleʻa and education of Nainoa Thompson, will attend a book signing reception for this book. Come and meet the author, talk story about the Hōkūleʻa. Free event. Bookends book store (Kailua Shopping Center, 600 Kailua Rd.); 5:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. For more information, please call 261-1996.

Saturday, May 25

• Children’s Storytime - Join the book store for a special Storytime as they will be reading Grow Caterpillar Grow!: Read, Build, Play! Keiki can join in for a very special Hands-On Learning Storytime with LEGO featuring Grow Caterpillar Grow! Held in the Children’s Section. Barnes & Noble Ala Moana (1450 Ala Moana Blvd. STE 1272); 11:00 A.M. For more info, click here.

• Hawaiki Rising Book Signing – Author Sam Low will be on hand to sign copies of his book, “Hawaiki Rising: Hōkūleʻa, Nainoa Thompson, and the Hawaiian Renaissance,” a book covering the journey of the Hōkūleʻa and education of Nainoa Thompson. Costco, 333 Keahole St. (Hawaii Kai); Noon to 2:00 P.M. Source.

• Hawaiki Rising Book Signing - Author Sam Low will be on hand to sign copies of his book, “Hawaiki Rising: Hōkūleʻa, Nainoa Thompson, and the Hawaiian Renaissance,” a book covering the journey of the Hōkūleʻa and education of Nainoa Thompson. Barnes & Noble Ala Moana (1450 Ala Moana Blvd. STE 1272); 3:30 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. Source.

Sunday, May 26

• Hawaiki Rising Book Launch Celebration - Sam Low, author of Hawaiki Rising: Hōkūleʻa, Nainoa Thompson, and the Hawaiian Renaissance, a book covering the journey of the Hōkūleʻa and education of Nainoa Thompson, will attend a book launch and celebration at the famed book store. Come and meet the author, talk story about the Hōkūleʻa and more. Free event. Light refreshments are usually served. Native Books Hawaii (Ward Warehouse, 1050 Ala Moana Blvd.); 3:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. For more information, call the bookstore at 596-8885.
  

Remember, all events listed above may be subject to change. Please contact the venue beforehand if you plan on attending. We encourage you to click on the links that are included with the events in the time line above. More events can be found on our Hawaiʻi Book Blog Events Calendar. You can also keep up with events through us on Twitter by following @HawaiiBookBlog.

If you have an event you would like us to help promote, please leave us a comment here or e-mail me ataalba@hawaiibookblog.com. Mahalo and have a great weekend!

Welcome to Huki Links – a biweekly post highlighting some of our favorite literary links and more from across the ‘net!

For more about Huki-Links, check out our inaugural post. The best part of the “huki” is that we all pull together, if you find any fun or interesting book related links/articles please feel free to share them via comments or contact us!

Self Love

-Hawaii Reads contributors were featured in two Star-Advertiser articles this past Sunday. First is Misty’s article with author Susanna Moore. (subscription needed)

-Next is Alex’s review of an excellent novel: Tyler Miranda’s ʻEwa Which Way. (subscription)

-Also, in last week’s Honolulu Weekly, Hawaii Book Blog was featured as one of five local pages to check out in Surf the Sites. Mahalo to Matthew Dekneef!

-If you haven’t read my review of Mark Panek’s latest novel Hawaiʻi, go do so and then buy the book!

-Here’s Misty’s modified review from the paper of Darien Gee’s (aka Mia King’s) latest novel The Avalon Ladies Scrapbook Society.

-In case you missed it… the best in Hawaiʻi publishing for 2012: Your 2013 Ka Palapala Poʻokela Award Winners!

-Though the Hawaii Book & Music Festival is over, we wrote a bunch of articles this year to hype it up and many of them are still applicable to some degree. Here’s a rundown:

• Sisters In Crime-Hawaii (includes mini-book reviews)
• A Few Books and Authors to look out for at HBMF13 (book recs)
• There’s an App for That. (A look at the HBMF app for smartphones)
• Hawaii Publishers Village (Info on some of the publishers and their deals)
• Keiki Read Aloud Pavilion (some info on the new kids reading area)

-In case you missed it… be sure to check out our awesome, interactive Poem in Your Pocket Day – Aloha Shirt Edition! Mahalo to all of the poets who contributed!

-Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram, and Like us on Facebook!

Hawaii Literary

-Our second favorite issue of the Honolulu Weekly is here. 2013 Summer Books has a ton of great reviews, interviews and more to get you into the local reading mood.

-HBMF was a blast! Someone on Examiner.com put up a quick summary and photo gallery: Books, Halaus, Tea, and Music.

-The MNonaka Gallery has two nicely edited YouTube videos of the 2013 HBMF, though the focus is entirely on the Main Stage and its performers.

-Pacific Business News took a brief look at the new Hawaii Book & Music Festival app.

-YA author Sue Cowing talks about why the Barnes & Noble Kahala Mall closure is a blow to Honolulu in this Star-Advertiser article. (subscription needed)

-Author Lehua Parker takes a look at mystery novelist Laurie Hanan’s book Almost Paradise.

-Tinfish editor Susan Schultz talks about what to expect when you’re expecting a poetry book.

-Nice KITV4 interview with Mike Bond, talking about his new novel Saving Paradise.

-And here is a nice radio interview with Cades Award-winning author Mark Panek on Hawaii Public Radio.

-Haven’t read it yet, but this Examiner review (from Westfield) takes a critical look at Charley Memminger’s new novel Aloha, Lady Blue.

-Here’s a Star-Advertiser article on a book company offering help with self-publishing. Hint: It’s Legacy Isle Publishing. (subscription)

-Going back to the KPP Awards, here’s a blog entry from the publisher talking how UH Press received top honors in the Hawaii book awards.

-Volcano author Tom Peek is honored for his debut novel Daughters of Fire.

-PR: Savant Books Releases Tom Donnelly/Mike Munger’s New Novel, “Blessed Are the Peacekeepers.”

-Very brief look by HONOLULU magazine of the new Kalaupapa book Mai Lepera by Kerri A. Inglis. Also includes a brief Robert Cazimero CD review.

-Not heard of it, but The Katy News says this “author takes readers on a perilous adventure through Hawaii” about Deep Green by Stone Spicer.

-One nodda blogger review of Molokai by Alan Brennert. This one is from one who loves books and Backstreet Boys.

 General Literary

-Here’s some rules for writing from the guardian. These ones focus on blocking that metaphor!

-The first ever Publishing Hackathon took place. Digital designers, programmers, engineers, and assorted techies gathered to devise the means to improve book discovery.

-Even if you’re older there’s still much to take from these 65 books you need to read in your 20s.

-While we’re on book lists, here’s 10 Forgotten Fantastical Novels You Should Read Immediately.

-Something interesting from BookRiot: What your reading rules reveal about your personality.

-A 1930 interview with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in which he discusses Sherlock Holmes and more. On YouTube.

-Hay people… it’s the Stephen King Universe flowchart as designed by tessiegirl.

-Those of you looking to inspiration may want to see Famous Authors’ Handwritten Outlines for Great Works of Literature.

-Here’s a Tumblr showing photos of the Stoop Books of Brooklyn.

-You raging economists want to wind down with some good reads? Noahpinion has a list of science fiction novels for economists.

-Have you ever started reading a book and realized you’ve read it before? The Curse of Reading and Forgetting.

-How can you not love these incredible reading rooms from around the world?

-Why can’t all postage stamps contain an entire short story? This one from Ireland does.

-Book Riot does a breakdown (with time cues) of the new trailer for Ender’s Game.

-The Atlantic boldly declares: Chick Lit is Dead, Long Live Farm Lit.

-An all digital “bookless” library is coming to a San Antonio suburb.

-Is there any more appropriate place to review Alan Brennert’s new novel Palisades Park than the Asbury Park Press?

-On that note, here’s a Palisades Park review from the Washington Post.

Non-Lit Links

-Anna Weaver of Slate urges the general populace to Give SPAM a Chance. The maligned meat deserves a better rep.

-It’s always worth checking out Wendie Burbridge’s “Five-O Redux” for a recap of what happened on the latest from Hawaii Five-O. This one’s on the season finale!

-UH is bringing ‘Rainbow’ back (yeah). Them other teams just don’t know how to act. USA Today discusses Hawaii returning Rainbow to Warriors.

-The debate is on: Is Craft Beer too hoppy for mainstream tastebuds?

-Like seeing an old friend go, The Office is now no more. At one point (Seasons 2/3, especially) it was my favorite TV show. Here’s some pre-finale GIFs!

-After decades of research, scientists finally reveal why orange juice tastes so bad after brushing your teeth.

You can catch some of these links and more by following us on Facebook and Twitter. If you have interesting links you’d like to share with us, or feel like we’ve missed something out the past two weeks, please feel free to leave us a comment!

*some exceptions to the date range may apply

There really are a million things you can do at the Hawaii Book & Music Festival. Misty and I often fret over, discuss, and plan out which speaking engagements each of us are going to attend. Unfortunately, even with two of us, there are so many fascinating things going on that it’s hard to make a decision. Here, I’ve provided just a very small sampling of books that will be featured at the event; books that are definitely worth your time if you’re interested in the subject.

Hawaiki Rising

Hawaiki Rising: Hōkūleʻa, Nainoa Thompson, and the Hawaiian Renaissance tells the story of Hokule’a’s creation at a time when Hawaiian culture was almost lost. The book tells Nainoa Thompson’s story for the first time. The book is populated by the ‘ohana wa‘a, the family of the canoe – those men and women who shared the vision of raising distant islands across the sea. For a more in depth synopsis, visit Sam Low’s Hawaiki Rising website.

It’s a really straightforward and easy book to read with great recollections, personal insights into the Hōkūleʻa and Hawaiian Renaissance, and an account of the spiritual and cultural growth of such respected men as Nainoa Thompson. The text is supplemented with beautiful full-page black & white photographs, content-specific maps, and fascinating star charts and graphs. I especially love the star charts and diagrams explaining how the navigators use the natural tools around them in the sky and sea to masterfully find their way–with pinpoint accuracy–across thousands of miles of ocean.

At the Hawaii Book & Music Festival (HBMF), Sam Low will be discussing his 1983 film The Navigators – Pathfinders of the Pacific, the new book Hawaiki Rising. Navigator Nainoa Thompson will also be there to talk about the Hōkūleʻa Worldwide Voyage (WWV) coming up where Hōkūle‘a and her sister canoe Hikianalia will sail 1,000-miles statewide, from May-October 2013, visiting 30 ports in the Hawaiian islands before departing for Tahiti in May 2014. This event will take place inside the Mission Memorial Auditorium on Saturday, May 18 at 2:00 P.M.

A Straight Road with 99 Curves: Coming of Age on the Path of Zen

Another book you might find interesting is  A Straight Road with 99 Curves: Coming of Age on the Path of Zen, a memoir by Greg Shepherd. It’s an “achingly honest” memoir of Greg’s quest for Zen and spirituality in America and Japan.  It follows his meandering path from seeker to disillusionment, and, over a decade later, his way back to Zen and inner peace. Readers experience Zen practice in Japan and Hawaii, as Greg introduces Zen masters Yamada Koun Roshi and Robert Aitken, the ”dean of American Buddhism.” From Greg, we understand why Zen was so appealing to the American counterculture and how its profound lessons of focus and detachment remain insightful and important.

No less an authority on the subject, Zen priest James Ishmael Ford had this to say about the book:

My short take away is, I like the book, and I recommend it as among the best of those Zen memoirs that are beginning to appear on shelves… The reasons I like it are several. First it is a compelling narrative. I can taste and smell and see the territory, and the people he describes live. It is just a good read.  And, another reason I appreciate it is how Gregory (we’re part of an extended Dharma family, at least as I see it, and I hope he wouldn’t mind the familiarity of using his first name here) plainly addresses his struggles, his projections, his intimate experiences, and, very much, his failures.

Greg Shepherd will be discussing his memoir A Straight Road with 99 Curves on Sunday, May 19 at Noon at the Authors Pavilion Makai. He will also be participating in the Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities Pavilion panel “Life Quests: Memoirs and Beyond” along with Perle Besserman and Malcolm Nāea Chun on Saturday, May 19 at 4:00 PM.

Kalaupapa

At the 2013 Ka Palapala Poʻokela Awards, Anwei Skinsnes Law’s book Kalaupapa: A Collective Memory won the Samuel M. Kamakau awards for Hawaiʻi Book of the Year. As somebody who read through much of the book and praised it highly among a few of my peers, it was no surprise to me this book was selected. Here’s a few revised notes from the KPP judges comments:

Passionately researched, Kalaupapa collects more than 200 hours of interviews combined with archival documents and over 300 letters and petitions, many of which are translated from Hawaiian. The book is beautifully realized by UH Press, including personal photos of people, places, and documents that accentuate the stories with striking visual components that pull you further into the atmosphere of the time and place. The stories inside are real accounts of Hawaiians taken from their homes and forced to live in isolation for the rest of their lives. It also gives them voice; you may find it surprising that despite being physically cut off from the rest of the world, many of these men and women took active roles in government. Kalaupapa is a powerful reminder of Hawaii’s history, one that will resonate with you for a long time.

Anwei Skinsnes Law will be active at HBMF discussing Kalaupapa, both her book and its stories, along with photographer Wayne Levin and Kerri Inglis (who all collaborated on the book Ili Nā Hoʻomanaʻo o Kalaupapa: Casting Remembrances of Kalaupapa). That session will take place at the Alana Hawaiian Culture Pavilion on Saturday, May 18 at 11:00 A.M.

As I’ve stated, this is just a drop in the bucket of the wealth of amazing speakers that will be present at the festival, sharing their deep knowledge and literary works with all of us. Either way you choose, go ahead and sit down in the shade of that pavilion, give the speaker your full attention, and you’ll be guaranteed to learn something interesting.

New to the Hawaii Book & Music Festival this year and a very welcome addition is the Keiki Read Aloud Pavilion.

The Pavilion will be located at the end of the new Hawaii Publishers Village on the King Street side. Wally Amos is the emcee and will read a lot of the books, too, as will an assortment of authors, teachers, and other very talented folks.

They put together as many multicultural books as possible and the line-up is great for an audience that represents the rich rewards of living in a multicultural society.  Books not displayed at a local publisherʻs booth can be autographed and or signed at the Native Books booth or Barnes & Noble tent.

Unfortunately, the schedule of books and readers isn’t listed in the official HBMF Program. However, we are lucky enough to have a list of the program schedule in PDF format. View the schedules for Saturday and Sunday in the following files:

• Keiki Read Aloud Pavilion – Saturday Reading Schedule
• Keiki Read Aloud Pavilion – Sunday Reading Schedule

In addition to Wally Amos, there are some great author/readers appearing on Saturday including James Rumford, Sue Cowing, Lavonne Leong, Dr. Carolan and much more. On Sunday you have Maya Soetoro-Ng, Waimea Williams, Richard Tillotson and even more.

This is a great new inclusion to the Festival, one that is perfect to bring your keiki, to keep them captivated with some engaging storytime while you rest your feet and cool off.

Maya Soetoro-Ng