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Kamalani Hurley Native Hawaiian author
Kamalani Hurley Native Hawaiian author
Kamalani Hurley Native Hawaiian author

Kamalani Hurley

Kamalani Hurley is a Native Hawaiian who writes stories for and about Native Hawaiian kids. Her name, Kamalani, means “child of heaven” which, in typical native tradition, came to her mom in a dream.

Hawaiʻi Public Radio Interview!

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kamalani-and-book

What start­ed out as a bit scary turned out to be such fun! I’d nev­er been inter­viewed for pub­lic radio before, so I was nervous. kamalani-and-book

Edi­tor Cather­ine Cluett Pactol made me feel right at home. 

Hon­est­ly, I can talk about the book all day, and I think I did! 

Because of time and space lim­i­ta­tions, she could­n’t include every­thing we’d talked about. She did a great job in focus­ing on the best parts for the interview.

BUT what was left out was my heart­felt alo­ha for the book’s won­der­ful illus­tra­tor, Hari­nani Orme. Hari­nani’s art is rich­ly tex­tured and vivid­ly col­or­ful and based on tons of research. She is amaz­ing, and I am grate­ful to call her my friend.

Cather­ine asked for a pho­to of me with the book. Any­one who knows me knows I don’t like being pho­tographed, but duty called! So out to our lanai I went with my hus­band, Tim, in tow. 

Maha­lo to Hawai’i Pub­lic Radio for fea­tur­ing Kaho’o­lawe: The True Sto­ry of an Island and Her Peo­ple! Read the arti­cle and lis­ten to the inter­view here.

All pro­ceeds ben­e­fit the Pro­tect Kaho’o­lawe ‘Ohana. Maha­lo nui to Car­ol Hinz and the team at Millbrook/Lerner!

We’re on the CSMCL Best Books 2025 List!

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CSMCL-List

I believe that all voic­es deserve to be heard. Maha­lo to the Cen­ter for the Study of Mul­ti­cul­tur­al Chil­dren’s Lit­er­a­ture Best Books of 2025 List for includ­ing Kaho’o­lawe: The True Sto­ry of an Island and Her People!
CSMCL-List

 

All pro­ceeds ben­e­fit the Pro­tect Kaho’o­lawe ‘Ohana. Maha­lo nui to Car­ol Hinz and the team at Millbrook/Lerner!

Kaho’olawe is an NCTE Orbis Pictus Recommended Book!

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NCTE

I am so grate­ful that Kaho’o­lawe: The Sto­ry of an Island and Her Peo­ple is an NCTE Orbis Pic­tus Rec­om­mend­ed Book! Maha­lo nui to the NCTE for this honor!

NCTE

All pro­ceeds ben­e­fit the Pro­tect Kaho’o­lawe ‘Ohana. Maha­lo nui to Car­ol Hinz and the team at Millbrook/Lerner!

New York Public Library Best Books 2025 List for Children’s Nonfiction!

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New York Public Library Best 2025

We’re so excit­ed that KAHO’OLAWE: THE TRUE STORY OF AN ISLAND AND HER PEOPLE is on the New York Pub­lic Library Best Books 2025 List for Chil­dren’s Nonfiction! 

 

New York Public Library Best 2025

All pro­ceeds ben­e­fit the Pro­tect Kaho’o­lawe ‘Ohana. Maha­lo nui to Car­ol Hinz and the team at Millbrook/Lerner!

SLJ Best Books 2025 List for Nonfiction Elementary

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SLJ Best 2025 List

So very grate­ful that KAHO’OLAWE: THE TRUE STORY OF AN ISLAND AND HER PEOPLE is on the School Library Jour­nal’s Best Books 2025 List for Non­fic­tion Ele­men­tary.

SLJ Best 2025 List

 

 

All pro­ceeds ben­e­fit the Pro­tect Kaho’o­lawe ‘Ohana. Maha­lo nui to Car­ol Hinz and the team at Millbrook/Lerner!

Look what’s in the window at Barnes & Noble, Ala Moana!

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mahalo-b&n-placard

Talk about a dream come true. KAHO’OLAWE: THE TRUE STORY OF AN ISLAND AND HER PEOPLE is a fea­tured book at Barnes & Noble.

B&N is the only major book­seller on Oʻahu, so being in their win­dow is very cool. Amaz­ing illus­tra­tor Hari­nani Orme and I had fun at the book read­ing and sign­ing event. But we always have fun when we’re togeth­er. It’s so rare for both author and illus­tra­tor to appear togeth­er. Talk about special!

at-barnes-and-noble

One lit­tle boy about 7 or 8 years old, asked, 

Is this is real story?

Yes, I replied. the sto­ry of Kahoʻo­lawe is very real.

We hand­ed out book­marks from the pub­lish­er and col­or­ing pages Hari­nani made to the kids, then stayed to talk sto­ry with the grownups for a bit.

Maha­lo to every­one who stopped by and to the good folks at Barnes & Noble for host­ing us!

Pho­to cred­it: Hari­nani Orme

My Newest Picture Book — AT THE WATER’S EDGE — is Announced at Publisherʻs Weekly!

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canva-seaweed

I thrilled to share that my pic­ture book biog­ra­phy, AT THE WATER’S EDGE, about the amaz­ing Native Hawai­ian sea­weed sci­en­tist Dr. Isabel­la Aiona Abbott, has been offi­cial­ly announced at Pub­lish­erʻs Week­ly!

ATWE-announcement

 

Dr. Abbot­t’s sto­ry is fas­ci­nat­ing. She was first Native Hawai­ian to earn a PhD and the first woman of col­or pro­fes­sor at Stan­ford Uni­ver­si­ty’s Hop­kins Marine Sta­tion. While at Hop­kins, she dis­cov­ered over 200 species of sea­weed and wrote sem­i­nal books and papers sci­en­tists use today. After retir­ing as pro­fes­sor emeri­ta from Stan­ford, Dr. Abbott returned home to Hawai’i where she bridged Native Hawai­ian sci­ence with West­ern approach­es. Not sur­pris­ing­ly, her stu­dents are today’s lead­ers in marine biol­o­gy and botany.

Due to be released in Spring 2027 by Lern­er Pub­lish­ing, the book will be illus­trat­ed by tal­ent­ed illus­tra­tor Remi Jose. 

Maha­lo nui …

  • to Dr. Abbot­t’s daugh­ter Annie Abbott Foer­ster, to her col­leagues Dr. Celia Smith and Dr. Puakea Nogelmeier, to her grad­u­ate teach­ing assis­tant Kim Pay­ton, and to the many stu­dents who shared their hal­i’a alo­ha — their fond mem­o­ries — with me
  • to my dream edi­tor and pub­lish­er, Car­ol Hinz
  • to my agent extra­or­di­naire James McGowan

Pho­to cred­it: Rok­ki Midro

Mahalo, Pearl Ridge Elementary School!

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Hari, Lori and Me

Last Fri­day illus­tra­tor Hari­nani Orme and I had the coolest school vis­it! Maha­lo to Pearl Ridge Ele­men­tary school librar­i­an Lori Tona­ki for invit­ing us to share the book with the school’s four class­es of fourth graders. The stu­dents were the per­fect audi­ence — atten­tive and  curi­ous. Librar­i­ans have always been my heroes, and Ms. Tona­ki is the kind of cre­ative and sup­port­ive school librar­i­an every child deserves.

What a bunch of aka­mai kids! They asked the best, most thought­ful ques­tions — like why I like to write non-fic­tion and what the hard­est thing about being a writer is. They asked Hari­nani when she knew she want­ed to be an artist and what inspires her to cre­ate her illus­tra­tions. It was so fun for us to inter­act with these bright, thought­ful students.

We hand­ed out col­or­ing pages (maha­lo, Hari!) and book­marks to thank the kids for being with us that day. 

Please enjoy these pho­tos of the event. We took so many more pho­tos with the kids, but I’m just includ­ing just a cou­ple for you here (to pro­tect the their pri­va­cy.) Aloha!

Pho­to cred­it: Lori Tonaki

  • Reading to the students
    Kamalani read­ing the book to the fourth graders dur­ing the Read Aloud event

Kaho’olawe Book Launch Pāʻina!

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Thrilled to see the books in the shop!

On Sat­ur­day Feb­ru­ary 8, 2025, we held an epic book launch pāʻi­na — par­ty. Our host was the won­der­ful Native Books, a Native Hawai­ian owned book­shop locat­ed in the His­toric Chi­na­town Dis­trict in Hon­olu­lu. Thank to own­er Maile Mey­er and her staff, espe­cial­ly Kūakoloa Robin­son, the event was mag­i­cal. The space was filled with so much alo­ha, thanks to our many fam­i­ly and friends. 

Illus­tra­tor Hari­nani Orme and I are so thank­ful for all of your sup­port. We are thrilled that more kids will learn the true sto­ry of Kahoʻo­lawe and how the lit­tle island and her peo­ple con­tin­ue to thrive today. Please enjoy these pho­tos of the event. Maha­lo nui!

  • Thrilled to see the books in the shop!
    Thrilled to see the books in the shop!

Happy Book Birthday!

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Happy-book-birthday
Illus­tra­tion @ Hari­nani Orme

Kahoʻo­lawe: The True Sto­ry of an Island and Her Peo­ple
Writ­ten by Kamalani Hur­ley, illus­trat­ed by Hari­nani Orme
Millbrook/Lerner (Feb 4, 2025)
ISBN 979–8765605011
Sug­gest­ed for ages 7 — 11, grades 2 — 5

Pho­to cred­its: Hari­nani Orme and Rok­ki Midro