Pres­i­dent of the Amer­i­can Library Asso­ci­a­tion, Native Hawai­ian Lessa Kananiʻop­ua Pelayo-Loza­da is a war­rior. With politi­cized book bans on the rise, the nation’s librar­i­ans bat­tle to pro­tect intel­lec­tu­al free­dom. Lessa works to strength­en the ALA’s com­mit­ment of keep­ing the nation’s libraries as safe spaces that offer every­one — regard­less of their socio-eco­nom­ic sta­tus — free and equal access to news, infor­ma­tion, and edu­ca­tion. The fight is daunt­ing, but Lessa and are all in:
We are resisters at our core. We pro­tect all our patrons, uphold intel­lec­tu­al free­dom, and serve our communities…

Award-win­ning author and Maui res­i­dent Rukhsan­na Guidoz has always lived life on her own terms. Born in Eng­land and edu­cat­ed at the Sor­bonne inParis, Rukhsan­na has been a world trav­el­er, jour­nal­ist, radio pro­duc­er, and now, teacher. Her books fea­ture plucky female char­ac­ters in sto­ries that charm and delight young readers…and their adults, too.

Tal­ent­ed Poly­ne­sian artist, illus­tra­tor and design­er, Shar Tuiʻa­soa is the cre­ative force behind the huge­ly pop­u­lar Punky Alo­ha Stu­dio. Fol­low­ing grad­u­a­tion from Kailua High School (Go Surfrid­ers!), Shar pur­sued a degree in fine art in Cal­i­for­nia before return­ing home to Hawaiʻi. Best known for her beau­ti­ful images of Poly­ne­sian women, Shar’s graph­ic illus­tra­tions are bold, col­or­ful and always exciting.

We are delight­ed to fea­ture the accom­plished Native Hawai­ian artist and his­to­ri­an, Brook Kapūku­ni­ahi Park­er. He has illus­trat­ed sev­er­al chil­dren’s books for ʻAha Pūnana Leo Hawai­ian Emer­sion Schools and cre­at­ed numer­ous stun­ning com­mis­sion pieces for clients through­out Hawai’i. His pas­sion is to Brooke-Park­er­cre­ate breath­tak­ing art that brings life to our ances­tors, and he does so through his exten­sive knowl­edge of Native Hawai­ian his­to­ry and culture. 

Hauoli Makahi­ki Hou, every­one! I love the start of a shiny new year. We also cel­e­brate Chi­nese New Year around here. Kung Hee Fat Choy! What bet­ter way to start a new year but with tal­ent­ed Native Hawai­ian and Hawaiʻi based writ­ers and cre­ators! Meet the won­der­ful Dru San­ti­a­go, Hawaiʻi based illus­tra­tor and the 2021 Soci­ety of Chil­dren’s Book Writ­ers and Illus­tra­tors Nar­ra­tive Art award.

As 2022 ends, I look back with alo­ha and grat­i­tude to the many peo­ple who have made such a dif­fer­ence in my writ­ing life.

Our ongo­ing series with Native Hawai­ian and local Hawaiʻi writ­ers con­tin­ues this week with Caren Loebel-Fried, the tal­ent­ed, award-win­ning author/illustrator from Vol­cano, Hawaiʻi. Her beau­ti­ful block-print­ing focus­es on con­ser­va­tion and the nat­ur­al world.