Craig Santos Perez is a native Chamorro from the Pacific Island of Guam. He is the author of three book, most recently from unincorporated territory [guma’], which received an American Book Award 2015. He is an associate professor in the English department at the University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa.

Craig Santos Perez's "Chanting the Water" in solidarity with the water protectors at Standing Rock

A recent graduate from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's Center for Pacific Island Studies and a climate change activist extraordinaire, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner is a Marshallese poet, writer, performance artist, and journalist. As she says on her website, her poetry mainly focuses on raising awareness surrounding the issues and threats faced by her people. Nuclear testing conducted in Oceania, militarism, the rising sea level as a result of climate change, forced migration, adaptation and racism in the U.S.--these are just a few themes her poetry touches upon. Poetry, Kathy states, is her means of understanding the people and the world around her. This poem, "My Rosy Cousin," is part of her first book that is about to be released by U of Arizona P titled _Iep Jāltok_. Go to http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/Books/bid2682.htm for more information on this first published book of poetry written by a Marshallese author.

Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner performs her poem "My Rosy Cousin"

Julia Katz writes poems about G-d and gay love to forget about her dissertation. Her work has been published in LIES: Volume II and Imagining Asia in the Americas, and is forthcoming from Pacific Historical Review. She gets around Honolulu but always comes home to her dog.

Julia Katz performs her poem "Song of the Sea"

Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada reads his award-winning short story, "Of No Real Account."

Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada believes in the power and potential of ea, of life, of breath, of rising, of sovereignty, because he sees it all around him, embodied in the ʻāina, the kai, his family, his friends, and his beautiful community. He is a long-time Ph.D. candidate in English at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, focusing on translation theory. He is currently editor of the journal Hūlili: Multidisciplinary Research on Hawaiian Well-Being, and is also a creative writer. His story, “Of No Real Account” earned him a feature as one of Hawaiʻi Review’s Students of the Month and won second place in the 2017 Patsy Sumie Saiki Awards for the best short story by a UH student. For this award, winning stories powerfully reflect Hawaiʻi history, culture, and traditions.

Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada performs his short story "Of No Real Account"

Kapena M. Landgraf is currently pursuing his PhD in English at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa.  You'll find him at his desk in Maunalua, staring at a shelf of books he needs to read and missing the sounds of the Hilo rain.  The recipient of Bamboo Ridge's "Best New Writer" for issue #108, Kapena writes to reclaim a past he wishes he could remember.

Kapena M. Landgraf performs his short story "Nā Iwi"

Cory Lovejoy is a person who lives on Lānaʻi. Writing in the forms of short stories and poetry started for her  in high school, and had been dormant in for her for many years until she recently picked it up again as a coping mechanism for depression.  She started reading theses poems at the almost monthly open mics at Coffee Works and has created a zine with some of them.  She is also an avid listener to sad songs and a creator of bags from vintage Hawaii fabrics. For a copy of her zines click here. 

Learn more about her on Instagram: @lovejoylanai 

For  open mic videos check out #openmiclanai on Instagram

Cory Lovejoy performs her poem "Burn Me at Sea"

Lehua M. Taitano, a native Chamoru from Yigo, Guåhan (Guam), is a queer writer and interdisciplinary artist.  She is the author of A Bell Made of Stones (poems, TinFish Press) a chapbook of short fiction, appalachiapacific, winner of  the 2010 Merriam-Frontier Award, and a chapbook of poetry, Sonoma, (Dropleaf Press).

Her poetry, essays, and Pushcart Prize-nominated fiction have appeared in numerous journals, including Poetry Magazine, Kartika Review, and Witness. She has served as an APAture Featured Literary Artist via Kearny Street Workshop, a Kuwentuhan poet via The Poetry Center at SFSU, and as a Culture Lab visual artist for the Smithsonian Institute’s Asian Pacific American Center.  Taitano currently serves as the Community Outreach Coordinator on the Executive Board of the Thinking Its Presence: Race, Literary and Interdisciplinary Studies Conference.

Lehua M Taitano performs her poem, "A Love Letter To The Chamoru People"

Joseph Han's "300,000 Shamans"

Momi Cummings's "Time's Up"

No'u Revilla's "Tell Them"

Prentis Hemphill's "Alert"

Shandhini Raidoo's "The Cost of a Thing"

A poem for It's Lit's special "Steamy" episode for Sex Jams Week 2018 on KTUH FM Honolulu.

Noʻu Revilla "I Will Write You So Hard"

Rajiv Mohabir "Inside The Belly"

Rajiv Mohabir "Anatomy"

Cory Lovejoy "I Want to Be Married to You for 1,000 Years"

Julia Katz "Break Easy and Heal Fast"

Til We Be A Response To She (w - G)

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