Posted on: Sunday, May 25, 2008
Hawaii author up for U.K. award
By Wanda Adams
Advertiser Staff Writer
Honolulan Patricia Wood's "Lottery" is the only American work short-listed for the prestigious 2008 Orange Prize, to be named June 4. Wood, who lives aboard a houseboat at Ko Olina and is a graduate student in education, disability and diversity at the University of Hawai'i, will be in England for the awards program. Her novel is about a man named Perry, whose IQ is only 76, but whose luck is off the charts — or is it? He wins the Washington State Lottery and suddenly, his well-ordered life becomes extremely complicated. The prize, of about $60,000, honors excellence, originality and accessibility in international women's writing and will be given in London. More information: www.orangeprize.co.uk or www.patriciawoodauthor.com.
May Day has passed, but May still has a few days in its pocket — and, anyway, who cares because every day can be lei day in Hawai'i, right? So it's not too late to pick up a copy of Minako Ishii's charming little picture book, "May Day Lei Day" (Bess Press). Exercising his penchant for unusual book design, Buddy Bess has published a reversible book, one that can be read back to front, or front to back — well, front to middle or back to middle. Photos by Ishii and text by Jeffrey Kent express the joy and beauty of May and lei from pageants and competitions to historic events (the Queen Mum dancing the hula with Duke Kahanamoku). Sweet.
Hawai'i-born Frances H. Kakugawa won two awards from the Northern California Publishers and Authors group for her latest book, "Wordsworth Dances the Waltz." The book received a bronze award in the Best Book Overall category and a Best Illustration Children's Book award. The book, published in July 2007 by Watermark Publishing of Honolulu, tells the story of a Hawaiian mouse, Wordsworth, who loves poetry and teaches children about the process of aging.
Kakugawa has worked to help children and adults to learn more about Alzheimer's disease and dealing with relatives and friends afflicted with the condition.
Winners of the Lorin Tarr Gill Writing Competition for 2008 were named recently by the National League of American Pen Women Honolulu chapter:
Fiction — 1st, Paul Flentge for "Bombing Pearl Harbor"; 2nd, Kathleen J. Cassity for "Leaving Paradise"; 3rd, Susan Killeen for "Nothing More Than This"; honorable mention, Colleen Marie Murphy for "Somebody at Home."
Poetry — 1st, Jan McGrath for "Smoothers"; 2nd, Kathleen J. Cassity for "Chee Chee"; 3rd, Christine Le for "One God"; honorable mention, Dawn Fraser Kawahara for "Sheltering Mango."
Nonfiction — Kathleen J. Cassity for "Distances"; Dawn Fraser Kawahara for "An Echo of Rodney Dangerfield: On Education and Respect"; Michelle Cruz Skinner for "Translating."
Kaua'i writer and actor David Penhallow is in Omaha, Neb., where his play, "Banzai, Darling," is being given a Play Lab reading at the third annual Great Plains Theatre Conference. The play, just published in paperback by Penhallow's Rice Street Press, is a portrait of a plantation manager's wife on Maui during the 1930s.Reach Wanda Adams at wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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