Tanka is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature.
Hawaiian literature has its origins in Polynesian mythology. It was originally preserved and expanded solely through oral traditions, as the ancient Hawaiians never developed a writing system. Written literature in the Hawaiian language and literary works in other languages by authors residing in Hawaii did not appear until the nineteenth century, when the arrival of American missionaries introduced the English language, the Latin alphabet, and Western notions of composition to the kingdom.
Lois-Ann Yamanaka is an American poet and novelist from Hawaiʻi. Many of her literary works are written in Hawaiian Pidgin, and some of her writing has dealt with controversial ethnic issues. In particular, her works confront themes of Asian American families and the local culture of Hawaiʻi.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin was a daily newspaper based in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the second largest daily newspaper in the state of Hawaiʻi.
Lilikalā K. Kameʻeleihiwa is a Hawaiian historian, filmmaker, and senior professor at the University of Hawaiʻi's Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies. Her earliest work was published under the name of Lilikalā L. Dorton.
Lee A. Tonouchi is a Hawaii-born writer and editor, who calls himself "Da Pidgin Guerilla" because of his strong advocacy of the Hawaiian Pidgin language.
Satoru Abe is a Japanese American sculptor and painter.
Wing Tek Lum is an American poet. Together with a brother he also manages a family-owned real estate company, Lum Yip Kee, Ltd.
Yasutaro (Keiho) Soga was a Hawaiian Issei journalist, poet and activist. He was a community leader among Hawaii's Japanese residents, serving as chief editor of the Nippu Jiji, then the largest Japanese-language newspaper in Hawaii and the mainland United States, and organizing efforts to foster positive Japan-U.S. relations and address discriminatory legislation, labor rights and other issues facing Japanese Americans. An accomplished news writer and tanka poet before the war, during his time in camp Soga authored one of the earliest memoirs of the wartime detention of Japanese Americans, Tessaku Seikatsu or Life Behind Barbed Wire.
Nora Okja Keller is a Korean American author. Her 1997 breakthrough work of fiction, Comfort Woman, and her second book (2002), Fox Girl, focus on multigenerational trauma resulting from Korean women's experiences as sex slaves, euphemistically called comfort women, for Japanese and American troops during World War II and the ongoing Korean War.
Rodney Morales is an American fiction writer, editor, literary scholar, musician, and Professor in the Creative Writing Program of the Department of English at the University of Hawaii. In both his creative and critical writing, he is concerned with contemporary multi-ethnic Hawaii society, particularly social relations between its residents of Native Hawaiian, Japanese, Caucasian, and Puerto Rican descent; the 1970s "Hawaiian Renaissance" movement and the disappearance of its legendary cultural icon George Helm of Protect Kaho'olawe Ohana (PKO); and the postmodern juxtaposition of popular artistic forms with high literature. Shaped by genre fiction of the postwar period, his regional stories influenced that of Generation X/millennial authors such as Chris McKinney and Alexei Melnick, "urban Honolulu" novelists known for their gritty, realistic approaches to depicting crime, drugs, and lower-class life in the islands.
Joseph Stanton is a Professor of Art History and American Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and a widely published poet.
Eric Chock is a Hawaiian poet, scholar and editor. He served as a professor of English and humanities at the University of Hawaiʻi – West Oʻahu, and coordinated the state's "Poets in the Schools" program for more than twenty years.
Juliet Kono is a Hawaiʻian poet and novelist.
Darlaine Māhealani MuiLan Dudoit was a Hawaiian poet, essayist and editor. Her work appeared in the literary journals Manoa, the Hawaii Review, and The Southwest Review, as well as the anthologies Sister Stew, Growing Up Local, and Against Extinction.
Tokiji "Sojin" Takei (April 6, 1903 – July 23, 1991) was a Japanese poet and essayist who lived in Hawaii. He was a prolific writer who is best known for his poetry written while he was incarcerated in a series of internment camps.
Otokichi "Muin" Ozaki was a Japanese tanka poet who lived in Hawaii.
Motokazu "Taisanboku" Mori was a Japanese surgeon and tanka poet who practiced in Hawaii.
Thomas Iannucci is a three-time Nā Hōkū Hanohano award-winning rapper, writer, and poet from Kaua’i, Hawaii. Iannucci has been the recipient of several notable awards, including the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards for Best Alternative Album in 2015, Best Hip Hop Album in 2018 and 2020, as well as the Best Hip Hop Song (Finalist) in the 2016 National John Lennon Songwriting Contest. Iannucci was also a member of the Rapzilla Freshman Class of 2020, wherein he won the popular vote portion of the process. Iannucci is an outspoken advocate for social issues within Hawaii, and was named by KHON2 News as part of the next generation of rappers pushing the limits of Hawaii Hip Hop. He is also an internationally-published author, making his fiction debut in 2023 when his short story “Hā’ule Hau” was published in New Zealand-based literary journal Takahē Magazine. He has since had many short stories published, in places like Bamboo Ridge, Hawaii’s most prestigious literary journal. In 2024, noted Hawaii author Chris McKinney named Iannucci as one of several “young Hawai’i authors to watch” during an interview at the Hawaii Book & Music Festival, Hawaii’s biggest literary event of the year.
Darrell H.Y. Lum is a fiction writer, playwright, teacher, and editor from Hawaiʻi, who co-founded Bamboo Ridge Press with Eric Chock.
