The Kohala Center is hosting a series of provocative book talks this fall and evocative nature walks through some of Hawaii Island’s most breathtaking native forests next spring. ADVERTISING The Kohala Center is hosting a series of provocative book talks
The Kohala Center is hosting a series of provocative book talks this fall and evocative nature walks through some of Hawaii Island’s most breathtaking native forests next spring.
The events, designed for The Kohala Center’s Circle of Friends, feature three of The Kohala Center’s Mellon-Hawaii doctoral and postdoctoral fellows, considered among Hawaii’s preeminent writers and thinkers. The scholars will lead the book talks at the Jacaranda Inn in Waimea in the fall; next spring wildlife biologist and award-winning photographer Jack Jeffrey will guide nature walks through forests along the Pu‘u ‘O‘o Trail, in the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge and on Kohala Mountain.
Keao NeSmith kicks off the series on Sept. 20 with a reading of “Ke Keiki Ali‘i Li‘ili‘i,” his Hawaiian translation of the classic children’s book “The Little Prince.” NeSmith, an instructor of Hawaiian and Tahitian languages at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, is currently translating “The Hobbit,” and has translated “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There” in the hope of contributing to an expanding library of reading materials for Hawaiian-language immersion schools.
On Oct. 4, Noelani Goodyear-Ka‘opua will read from and lead a discussion about her latest book, “A Nation Rising: Hawaiian Movements for Life, Land, and Sovereignty,” which chronicles the history of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement from the 1970s to the present. Goodyear-Ka‘opua is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She will be joined in the talk by co-editor Erin Kahunawaika‘ala Wright, a professor of educational administration at the Hawai‘inuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Kamanamaikalani Beamer rounds out the book talks on Nov. 1 with readings from and discussion of his new work, “No Makou Ka Mana: Liberating the Nation,” which examines how the Hawaiian Kingdom’s ruling ali‘i (chiefs) exercised their own agency and selectively appropriated Western tools and knowledge to strengthen and maintain the lahui (Hawaiian people). Beamer is an assistant professor in the Hui ‘Aina Momona program split between the School of Hawaiian Knowledge and the Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
The book talks are sponsored in part by Hilo Bay Books and Kona Bay Books. Local tea and refreshments will be served after each talk.
Nature walks with Jeffrey begin on Feb. 21 with a 2.5-mile bird watching adventure along the Pu‘u ‘O‘o Trail. The second walk is a two-mile expedition into the Maulua Tract of Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge on April 25. The series concludes with a nature photography clinic and hike in the Pu‘u Pili Biodiversity Preserve on Kohala Mountain on May 23.
To become a member of The Kohala Center’s Circle of Friends, visit kohalacenter.org/circle-of-friends or contact Cortney Okumura at 887-6411. Admission to each of the book talks is $15 per person for members. The Pu‘u ‘O‘o and Pu‘u Pili Nature Walks are each $25 per person for members and include lunch; the Hakalau Walk, which includes four-wheel-drive transportation to and from the refuge, is $50 per person.
Due to limited space, advance registration is encouraged. To register, visit cof14.eventbrite.com or call The Kohala Center at 887-6411.
