2/3/12: Native Voices: A reading and lecture

The below is quoted directly from an email circulated by the Center for Pacific Islands Studies:

Native Voices: A reading and lecture series presents:

 Flora Aurima Devatine
Caroline Sinavaiana
Michael Puleloa
Lauren Mālialani Cabaniss
Leilani Johnson-Hagmoc
Joleen Togawa Salas

When: Friday, February 3, 2012, 4pm

Where: Halau o Haumea, Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, University of Hawai'i, Mānoa, campus

Curated by Brandy Nālani McDougall & Craig Santos Perez

Author Bios:
Flora Aurima Devatine is a Ma‘ohi scholar, member of the Tahitian Academy, writer and an editor of the first Tahitian review Littérama‘ohi, which unites a group of apolitical Polynesian writers. Her book Tergiversations et reveries de l’écriture orale, which she describes as “a controlled drift,” endeavors to braid together the different aspects of her culture: Ma‘ohi and French. This gives birth to a very original poetry and returns, through writing, to the sacredness of ancestral orality.

Samoan poet Caroline Sinavaiana is an associate professor of English at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. She is the author of two poetry books: Mohawk/Samoa: Transmigrations, written with James Stevens, and Alchemies of Distance.

Michael Puleloa was born on Majuro in the Marshall Islands and raised on Molokai. He has taught English at Kapiolani Community College and the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He is currently an English teacher at Kamehameha Schools, Kapalama, where he is also the advisor for Hookumu, the school’s student literary journal. He has received awards for both his poetry and prose.

Lauren Mālialani Cabaniss is from Kohala on the island of Hawai'i and is currently pursuing concurrent degrees in English and Hawaiian Studies. In her spare time she loves to read and write and is inspired by the people she meets and the ʻāina around her. She is currently working on a research project for her ʻāina hānau (birth land) and a collection of poetry.

Leilani Johnson-Hagmoc is a Senior at the University of Hawaii of Manoa. She is majoring in Secondary Education with an emphasis in English, and her aspiring dream is to become a high school teacher. On her spare time, she likes to be outdoors with nature. She enjoys hiking, working in the lo'i patch, or fishing at the beach.

Joleen Togawa Salas is a native from the island of Saipan and is currently at UH pursuing a BA in Sociology. She credits her poetic influences to music as it has always been the one thing that has inspired her in dance, word, and life since a very young age. In her writing, she focuses mainly on women's issues while also incorporating her pacific island background. She hopes to become a writer who contributes to her cultural background in its pride and its people. Biba Pasifiko! Biba Kutura!