The University of Arizona Press
When: Saturday, April 22, 10 am, Hawaiʻi time ( 5 pm PT / 6 pm MT/ 7 pm CT/ 8 pm ET)
Where: Free on Zoom, registration is required
In celebration of National Poetry Month, join Hawaiʻi State Poet Laureate Brandy Nālani McDougall as she shares her unique and empowering stories of Hawaii through poetry. Her second poetry collection, ʻĀina Hānau, Birth Land, is available now. The Hawai‘i State Public Library system hosts the event to discover ways to appreciate, create and write poetry to connect with others and embrace all the beauty Hawai‘i has to offer. Brandy Nālani McDougall (Kanaka ʻŌiwi, she/her/ʻo ia) lives with her family in Kalaepōhaku in the ahupuaʻa of Waikīkī on Oʻahu.
‘Āina hānau—or the land of one’s birth—signifies identity through intimate and familial connections to place and creates a profound bond between the people in a community. McDougall’s poems flow seamlessly between ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i and English, forming rhythms and patterns that impress on the reader a deep understanding of the land. Tracing flows from the mountains to the ocean, from the sky to the earth, and from ancestor to mother to child, these poems are rooted in the rich ancestral and contemporary literature of Hawaiʻi —moʻolelo, moʻokūʻauhau, and mele —honoring Hawaiian ʻāina, culture, language, histories, aesthetics, and futures.
