By Staff Reports
(Kaneohe )-–Windward Community College is pleased to present Out Loud in the Library, a music and poetry event, on Thursday, September 13 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Hale La‘akea, the college’s newly opened library (dedicated on Aug. 29), the first green library in the UH System.
“If you are used to crowding into the old Hale La’akea, you will be stunned by our capacious and sunny architectural marvel,” said English instructor and Out Loud in the Library coordinator Janine Oshiro.
Mingle and enjoy music created by students from WCC’s Digital Music Production class, starting at 6 p.m. Delight in the sonic sensations of the following poets from 6:30-8 p.m.
Born and raised on Maui, Brandy Nālani McDougall, is of Kanaka Maoli (Hawai`i, Maui, O`ahu and Kaua`i lineages), Chinese and Scottish descent. She is the author of a poetry collection, The Salt-Wind, Ka Makani Pa`akai (Kuleana `Ōiwi Press 2008). The co-founder of Ala Press, a press dedicated to publishing indigenous Pacific literatures, she recently recorded an amplified poetry album, Undercurrent (Hawai`i Dub Machine 2011), with Craig Santos Perez. She is an Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies in the American Studies Department at UH Mānoa.
Craig Santos Perez is a native Chamoru from the Pacific Island of Guåhan/Guam. He is the co-founder of Ala Press, co-star of the poetry album Undercurrent (Hawai`i Dub Machine, 2011), and author of two collections of poetry: from unincorporated territory [hacha] (Tinfish Press, 2008) and from unincorporated territory [saina](Omnidawn Publishing, 2010), a finalist for the LA Times 2010 Book Prize for Poetry and the winner of the 2011 PEN Center USA Literary Award for Poetry. He is an Assistant Professor in the English Department at the University of Hawai`i, Manoa, where he teaches Pacific literature and creative writing.
Daren Kamali is a Fiji Born-New Zealander of Fijian-Wallis et Futuna heritage. He is a Pacific poet, author, and co-founder of the South Auckland Poets Collective. Currently studying a Bachelor of Creative Writing at the Manukau Institute of Technology in Auckland, NZ, he launched his first book/CD Tales, Poems and Songs from the Underwater World in 2011. Daren is the Fulbright/Creative New Zealand recipient 2012 Pacific Writer in Residence at the University of Hawai`i, Mānoa.
Rob Words, Jonra Lesigh, Serena Simmons, Sterling Higa, and Jocelyn Ng from Youth Speaks Hawai`i perform slam poetry. Youth Speaks Hawai`i is a non-profit organization, supported by the Hawai`i Academy of Performing Arts, and promoting teen literacy and civic engagement through the performance art of slam poetry.
For more information, contact Janine Oshiro at 236-9231 or email jhoshiro@hawaii.edu.