Join Watermark Publishing at our Downtown Holiday Book Fair with special guests:

• Chef Alan Wong
• Arnold Hiura, award-winning author
• Chef Kevin Chong (Chef Mavro Restaurant)
• Chef Hiroshi Fukui (Hiroshi Eurasian Tapas)
• Chef Eric Leterc (The Pacific Club)

Just try talking about Hawai‘i’s cultural history without talking about food. No can. We love eating and talk story about local food. On Saturday Nov. 6, Hawaii’s Plantation Village in Waipahu will celebrate both taste and talk with Arnold Hiura, author of Kau Kau — Cuisine & Culture in the Hawaiian Islands.

The free reading/discussion/eating event, 10 a.m. to noon, will get under way with a quick historical overview of kau kau — our all-purpose pidgin word for food. The book’s timeline starts with Hawaiians then continues with whalers and sailors, plantation immigration, World War II and post-war Hawai‘i, the “Hawaiian Renaissance” movement and wraps up with the contemporary food scene.

Dragon Gate Bookstore in Honolulu's Chinatown will host a book signing with best-selling author and feng shui expert Clear Englebert on Saturday, October 9, noon. Englebert will sign copies of his books, Feng Shui for Hawaii and Feng Shui Demystified. He will also answer questions regarding feng shui and offer brief critiques of floor plans. (Please bring a completed floor plan sketch.)

Englebert will also offer a three-hour Feng Shui for Hawaii Gardens class on Friday, October 8, 6:00pm with a repeat session on Sunday, October 10, 2:00pm. The class fee is $25.

A fresh look at Hawai‘i politics, past and present, is the theme of Fred Rohlfing’s autobiography—Island Son: The Life and Times of Hawai‘i’s Republican Reformer, newly released by Legacy Isle Publishing. In his 280-page memoir, the former state senator and long-time public servant provides an alternative view of life in Hawai‘i’s traditionally Democratic-controlled political arena.

Karl Rove, former Senior Advisor and Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush, hails Island Son as “an energetic, engaging memoir. Naval officer, lawyer, public servant, elected leader, judge, Pacific diplomat; Rohlfing gives special attention to Hawai‘i’s early statehood years and present challenges. An entertaining and informative read.”

Senator Rohlfing will be holding book signings at the following dates and locations:

Saturday, September 25, 11AM - Noon; Barnes & Noble, Kahala Mall; (808) 737-3323

Saturday, October 2, 1PM – 2PM; Borders, Maui Marketplace; (808) 877-6160

Join Kau Kau: Cuisine & Culture in the Hawaiian Islands author Arnold Hiura at two upcoming events in May. Mother's Day is right around the corner...a personally dedicated book makes a great gift!

One of Watermark Publishing's authors, Frances H. Kakugawa, started a dialogue with Charles Pellegrino, author of The Last Train from Hiroshima, a book which earlier this year received a great deal of attention for not-so-good reasons. Think James Frey-Oprah Winfrey-A Million Little Pieces-attention.

Frances, a former Hawaii public school educator, felt a very personal connection with Pellegrino's Last Train, which chronicles the experiences of some of the survivors of the Hiroshima atomic bomb—her parents' families perished at Hiroshima. When she discovered that there was some controversy over whether the survivors' accounts were true or not (one of Pellegrino's sources turned out to have duped the author), she posted an open letter to the author on her blog expressing her dismay.

To her surprise, Pellegrino wrote back to her.

Born and raised in the most multicultural state in the union, President Barack Obama bears the indelible stamp of his native Hawai‘i. Stu Glauberman and Jerry Burris’s book, The Dream Begins: How Hawai‘i Shaped Barack Obama (Watermark Publishing, 2009), is a coming-of-age story set in Hawai‘i’s storied “melting pot”—a revealing look at the island state that is surely a core part of what makes Obama tick.

The Honolulu Stadium 2010 Calendar features twelve months of memories from Mickey Mantle to Elvis Presley, the Hawaii Islanders to high school football. With rare photos and important dates from Arthur Suehiro’s bestselling book, Honolulu Stadium: Where Hawaii Played, both calendar and book celebrate the golden era of Hawai‘i athletics, a time when Honolulu was young and sport was king.

The Honolulu Stadium 2010 Calendar is currently part of a special promotion at Hawaii Barnes & Noble bookstores: purchase a copy of Honolulu Stadium, the book, and receive a complimentary calendar while supplies last at the three Hawaii Barnes & Noble locations (Ala Moana, Kahala Mall and Lahaina Gateway). The promotional period runs now through October 14, 2009.

Books make fantastic gifts—you can give someone countless gourmet meals, a trip to a far-flung land, transport them to the future or bring them back to their past all in a tidy package.

There’s a book to suit everyone’s taste, they last longer than a box of chocolates, they don’t go out of style, and everyone—young or old—appreciates a good story.

Here are a few gift ideas for this holiday season from Watermark Publishing’s catalog:

Anyone who's spent any length of time away from the Islands—or sent a care package to a homesick college student—knows: Hawai‘i folk feel strongly about the tastes of home. It goes beyond craving a familiar food. It's a comforting connection that resonates in our souls.

“Saimin” is a contraction of the Chinese words “sai” (thin) and “mein” (noodle). Saimin noodles are unique in that they contain eggs and are curly and slightly chewy when cooked. The popular staple (see photo page ii) dates back to the plantation era, when it cost 10 cents for a large bowl, 5 cents for a small one, at Waipahu’s Shiroma Saimin stand in the 1930s. Saimin is served alongside hot dogs and burgers throughout the Islands—only in Hawai‘i is it found on the menu at Jack in the Box and McDonald’s. Hamura’s Saimin Stand on Kaua‘i was even recognized by the prestigious James Beard Foundation as one of America’s Classics in 2006

Kau Kau: Cuisine and Culture in the Hawaiian Islands by Arnold Hiura, an upcoming release from Watermark Publishing, will be in stores January 2010.

But you can pre-order an advance copy now for holiday delivery via the publisher's Web site or enter to win a copy in a series of weekly drawings via Facebook and Twitter.

Watermark Publishing has launched an online giveaway contest to promote upcoming release Kau Kau: Cuisine and Culture in the Hawaiian Islands by Arnold Hiura.

One winner will be selected each week at random to receive a copy of Kau Kau. The contest runs Nov. 2 - Dec. 18, 2009. Kau Kau will debut in bookstores in January, but can be pre-ordered at the publisher’s Web site, www.bookshawaii.net.

Exploring Historic Hilo, a pictorial history of the Big Island town, is the fifth title in The Small Town Series. This site-by-site guide features 100 archival photographs of businesses, schools, churches, homes and public buildings—many of them rare images never before published. Each of the photos is keyed to a location on a foldout map, providing a unique, hands-on way to explore the historic town.

Gecko is only a few inches tall, but that’s still big enough to be a bully when there are smaller creatures around the house—like Mosquito and her insect friends. But Mosquito is tired of being chased and harassed by the greedy lizard.

In Gecko and Mosquito, Mosquito is the unlikely hero who saves the day and frees the household bugs from Gecko’s tyranny with a clever plan. Gecko may be bigger, but he’s definitely not smarter.

In The Hawai‘i Beer Book: Bars, Breweries & Beer Cuisine, a guide to Hawaii’s vibrant beer scene, Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi shares the history of beer in the Islands, takes the reader to local craft breweries and explains the basics of home brewing.

This 192-page book also includes more than two-dozen delicious recipes incorporating beer, suggestions for food-and-beer pairings, listings and reviews of local bars and restaurants to aid in seeking out the perfect pint, and fun beer trivia.The comprehensive resource section lists everything from beer books and events to breweriana clubs and podcasts.