It’s back! The 5th  annual Hawaii Book & Music Festival invades the civic grounds at Honolulu Hale this weekend (Saturday and Sunday, May 15-16) like a family-friendly Godzilla (not the less-than-friendly Godzilla, the destructive version of the giant radioactive mutant Japanese monster with the dangerous tail who likes to smash Tokyo and anything else in his way).

All the festival details and schedule are online.  Take a look and then come back.

Read the rest of this entry »

Voices on the page, or on the computer screen of this blog, echo down the last days of 2009. Here are some of the voices that have brightened “A Little Romance” this year:

Local writer and teacher Cami Nihipali: There are discussions in literary circles about whetherTwilight is ‘good’ literature. I know my colleagues and I have had this discussion numerous times. The truth of the matter is that it doesn’t matter. Like the Harry Potter phenomenon, which became embroiled in a religious argument several years ago, Twilight and its subsequent books have gotten kids reading, and excited about reading nonetheless. As for romance, Meyer hits the nail on the head. Whether the reader likes Edward or Jacob, everyone can find that flutter of first love in this story.

Read the rest of this entry »

Most of us have way too much on our plate. To make time to read we have to find a personal oasis, a place away from all the modern noise, then turn [...]
Read the rest of this entry »

Read the rest of this entry »

Islands Linked by Ocean (Bamboo Ridge Press, 2009) is a showcase for the short story magic of Lisa Linn Kanae. Lisa is also the author of Sista Tongue (Tinfish, 2001), about which Susan Schultz wrote, “It combines the history of pidgin English in Hawaii with memoir with story telling.”

Islands Linked by Ocean is all about story telling, and Lisa tells a great story. I asked Lisa to share some of her thoughts about this new collection.

Read the rest of this entry »