Aloha all,
The event, Ko’olau Writers, series for youth literature, was held in the Sunset ballroom of Aloha Tower Marketplace, on Thursday February 7th. Three highly respected women in literature gathered to talk story with an open-invite crowd of Hawai’i Pacific University students. The audience consisted of all ages of University students with a passion for reading, writing and all things literature, whom created a warm and welcoming environment for the guest speakers. To briefly introduce each author; Malia Collins, from the Island of Oahu, is a current editor at UH Press and the author of many Hawaiian children’s books. Kristiana Kahakauwila is an author of the famous middle school literary fiction novel: This is Paradise, and several other youth reading publications. The third author to join us on this beautiful sunny morning, was Sonia Patel, raised partly on the Island of Molokai, later writing novels for a youth audience on her experience and connections made on the Islands.
The three authors shared their journey with literature and passion for serving their community in any aspect they can. With a respect for one another, each panelist member took turns answering questions and sharing their best advice from their climb to success. Each author experienced living and growing in Hawai’i, leaving and then returning home, and how those experiences that shaped them to become a better writer and development of their characters. The authors answered questions about how to get into the world of publishing in Hawai’i, giving outlets to local publishing websites and bookstores like: Bess Press, da Shop in Kaimuki and Ho’olana publishing. With an emphasis on helping local businesses and supporting authors in Hawai’i, the ladies gave new writers helpful insight to where students should look to stay within the Islands literature arena. Each author shared their notions on the best way to “feed your audience”, and the beauty and the backlash that comes with it. Negativity and rejection is hard to hear from anyone, and self-doubt can cloud your thoughts, but they encouraged everyone that you will always be met with negativity responses, especially if your work is good! Mrs. Sonia Patel shared that, the positives outweigh the negatives, the feeling of leaving a physical artifact out in the world for young kids to maybe one day pick up and read, and that book could change their life. With an endearing manner, they shared how they fought to not loose their creative voice when faced with having to appeal to a big corporations needs or the stress of catering to a selective audience. Inspiring in young minds that in order to not loose passion in your craft, you have to be strong and confident in the voice you want to present to the world.
To hear respected women voice their opinion and give authentic advice to the next generation of aspiring authors, was what made this event so special. A big thank you was voiced to celebrate our guest speakers, Malia, Kristiana and Sonia, who brought light to the possibilities of success in a changing world. Good communication, connection and community are all the tools you need to make an impact wherever you go. You are in control of the power of the possibility of what comes next!
Mahalo for tuning in this week,
Bronwyn
