LibGuides: Literature of the Pacific: Home

Novels by Native Hawaiian writers, Kanaka ʻŌiwi

Waimea Summer by John Dominis Holt
Call Number: H Hol

ISBN: 9780914916130

Publication Date: 1995-11-01

His important novel explores two cultures merged in the life of the protagonist. This young boy finds himself on a ranch in Waimea, trying to make sense of the differences in class and peoples as he himself realizes the great divide between his Western and Native Hawaiian identities.
Between the Deep Blue Sea and Me by Lurline Wailana McGregor
Call Number: H McG

Publication Date: 2008

Moana Kawelo, PhD, has a promising career as a museum curator in Los Angeles. The untimely death of her father – and the gravitational pull of Hawai‘i when she returns home for his funeral – causes Moana to question her motivations and her glamorous life in California.
Murder Casts a Shadow by Victoria N. Kneubuhl
Call Number: H Kne

Publication Date: 2008

New Year's Eve, 1934. While Honolulu celebrates with champagne and fireworks, someone is making away with the Bishop Museum's portrait of King Kalakaua.
House of Many Gods by Kiana Davenport
Call Number: EBK OVERDRIVE

Publication Date: 2007

It follows the life of Ana, raised in Hawaii by a family including drug addiction, poverty, and despair. Determined to break the cycle, Ana manages college and medical school with a ferocity fueled by anger. Nikolai was orphaned as a small child and left to roam the streets of St. Petersburg. The young people meet dramatically during a hurricane in Hawaiʻi.
The Healers by Kimo Armitage
Call Number: EBK OVERDRIVE

Publication Date: 2016

Cousins Keola and Pua, chosen as the next generation of healers by their family, initially have an idyllic life as respected apprentice healers. Their days are spent training with their grandmother, investigating the healing properties of plants, and treating ailments of community and family members. Troubling dreams, however, foreshadow a sea change to come.
Cult of Ku by Bill Fernandez
Call Number: H Fer

Publication Date: 2016

A series of gruesome human sacriifice-style murders in 1920 Honolulu strike the island's Caucasian power elite. War hero and son of a plantation owner, Grant Kingsley is arrested for the brutal murder of his grandmother. To clear his name, Grant searches for the true killer which exposes him to the criminal underworld, anti-union violence, the Japanese military expansion into the south Pacific, and racism.
Shark Dialogues by Kiana Davenport
Call Number: EBK OVERDRIVE

Publication Date: 1995

It begins in the 19th century with the dramatic meeting of a young Yankee sailor and a beautiful Tahitian princess. Their descendants, who live in contemporary Hawaii, are four cousins named Vanya, Ming, Rachel, and Jess who have been brought up by Pono, a kahuna, or seer, who has never talked about her mysterious past to her four granddaughters.
Pūkoko by Wayne Moniz
Call Number: HMon

Publication Date: 2014

The novel traces the life of Moʻikeha from childhood to manhood, from adventurous boy to accomplished sailor and naval war hero who left his beloved homeland, Hawaiʻi to fight in the Civil War.

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Drama by Native Hawaiian Playwrights

Kaisara Play Guide

In 1896, four scenes from William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar were translated into ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi by James N. K. Keola and published in Ka Nupepa Kuokoa. What would have happened if Keola had asked other Kanaka Maoli intellectuals of his time to participate in a reading of these scenes? Iāsona Kaper reimagines Shakespeareʻs four scenes in his MFA Thesis Production which premiered in September of 2023.

Hawai'i Nei by Victoria N. Kneubuhl
Call Number: H 812.54 K73

Publication Date: 2002
Kamau by Alani Apio; Michael Harada (Illustrator)
Call Number: H 812.254 Ap3

ISBN: 9780967418315

Publication Date: 2000-01-01

Alika, the main character, is a tour guide who has begun to question his role in perpetuating a false version of Hawaiian History.

Poetry by Native Hawaiian writers, Kanaka ʻŌiwi

The Salt-Wind Ka Makani Pa'akai by Brandy Nalani McDougall
Call Number: H811 M14s

Publication Date: 2008

A collection of poetry about Hawaiian mythology, history, and personal family stories.
Kalahele by Imaikalani Kalahele
Call Number: H811.6 K12k

Publication Date: 2002

"Kalahele reflects the issues of culture, Hawaiian identity, land alienation, American exploitation, and cultural decolonization. This collection has poetry and art speaking simultaneously, imagining a society that links the past with the present and the future." Steven Winduo
Night Is a Sharkskin Drum by Haunani-Kay Trask
Call Number: H 811.6 T69n

Publication Date: 2002

This is a lyrical evocation of Hawaii by a Native poet whose ancestral land has been scarred by tourism, the American military, and urbanization. Grounded in the ancient grandeur and beauty of Hawaii, this collection is a love song for a beloved homeland under assault.
Other Places in the Turnings of a Mind by Leialoha A. Perkins
Call Number: H811.54P41o

Publication Date: 1987

Collection of poetry by about a variety of topics and places around the world.
Uluhaimalama by Māhealani Perez-Wendt
Call Number: H811P41u

Publication Date: 2007

"Her compelling poems make a place for the emergence of her Hawaiian ancestors. They sing. The past, present and future are woven tightly, with tough strength. Some poems are joyful, ripe and beautiful...Others are fierce and angry, made of fire and fury: they are spears of truth." Back cover
Ask the Brindled by No'u Revilla
Call Number: H 811.6 Rev

ISBN: 9781639550005

Publication Date: 2022-08-01

Ask the Brindled, selected by Rick Barot as a winner of the 2021 National Poetry Series, bares everything that breaks between "seed" and "summit" of a life-the body, a people, their language. It is an intergenerational reclamation of the narratives foisted upon Indigenous and queer Hawaiians-and it does not let readers look away.

ʻŌiwi - A Native Hawaiian Journal

Volume #1
ʻŌiwi is a Native Hawaiian Journal that gathers the literacy, artistic, and scholarly work of the ōiwi, the native people of Hawai'i, to express the endurance and vitality of our nation. Published in 1998.
Volume #2 Kūnihi Ka Mauna
Hawaiians have contributed so much to the world, and have so much more to contribute. Published in 2002.
Volume #3 Huliau
In the words of our ancestors:
I mua ē, i mua ā, i mua aku nō, a ki‘ina i ka lei, ka lei o ka lanakila, go forth, go forward, go forward indeed, and grab hold of the lei, the lei of victory. Published in 2003.

Mo'olelo / Stories by Native Hawaiian writers, Kanaka ʻŌiwi

The O'ahu Exploits of Kamapua'a, the Hawaiian Pig-God by Collette L. Akana-Gooch
Call Number: H 398.2099693 Oa3

ISBN: 9781581780321

Publication Date: 2004-07-01

The mo'olelo of Kamapua'a and his time on O'ahu.
Nanaue the Shark Man and Other Hawaiian Shark Stories by Emma M. Nakuina; Dennis Kawaharada (Editor); Martha Beckwith (Introduction by)
Call Number: H 398.2 N14n

ISBN: 9780962310249

Publication Date: 1994-06-01

"Hawaiian shark aumakua" by Martha Warren Beckwith; " Nanaue" by Emma M. Nakuina; "Kahalaopuna" by Emma M. Nakuina ; "Napuaopaula -- Punia -- Mikololou" by Paahana Wiggin and "Kaehuikimanoopuuloa -- Kamalo" by A.O. Forbes .
La'ieikawai by S N Hale'ole; Dennis Kawaharada (Editor); Richard Hamasaki (Editor); Esther Mookini (Editor); Martha Warren Beckwith (Translator)
Call Number: H 398.22 L12

Publication Date: 2006

A story about the wooing of a young native chiefess of great beauty and high rank, her fall from grace, and her final deification among the gods. The story was serialized in Hawaiian in 1862-1863 in Ka Nupepa Kuokoa and published in book form in 1863.

Short Stories By Native Hawaiian writers, Kanaka ʻŌiwi

Hāpai Nā Leo by Bill Teter (Editor)
Call Number: H 899.4208 H21

ISBN: 9781583510889

Publication Date: 2010-01-01

An anthology of short plays, stories and poetry written by indigenous Hawaiian writers. Includes "The Shimmering-ka 'olili "by Keola Beamer, "Pua Mana Nō" by Mary Kawena Pukui, "Lesson of Essence Recess 2" by Kealoha and many more.
Ho'okupu by Miyoko Sugano
Call Number: H 810.809969 H76

Publication Date: 2009

An anthology of poetry, short stories and one play written by Native Hawaiian Women on a range of topics from poi to prisons.
The Shimmering - Ka 'Olili by Keola Beamer
Call Number: H 810.8 B37s

Publication Date: 2002

This collection of original stories of island adventures and contemporary legends speak of the place where modern and ancient Hawaii meet.
This Is Paradise by Kristiana Kahakauwila
Call Number: H SC Kah

ISBN: 9780770436254

Publication Date: 2013

Six short stories explore the deep tensions between local and tourist, tradition and expectation, façade and authentic self.

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Literature of the Pacific: Home

Bibliography of Hawaiian Writers