HBMF 2024: Event recap by thomas iannucci

The 19th Hawaiʻi Book & Music Fest was Mayyyjah (and so is Kristiana Kahakauwila)

by thomas iannucci

So if you couldn’t tell by the title, I had a great time yesterday [Sat. 9/14].

The Hawaii Book & Music Festival (hosted at UH Mānoa) was back and fully in-person for the first time since Covid, and braddah, it was mayjah! Dare I say, it may be the second most mayjah festival in Hawaiʻi (after Mayjah Rayjah, of course). For those who aren’t familiar with the Kauaʻi Braddahs Unified Ranking System, “mayjah” is indeed high praise, up there with “cherreh” and “critical,” far higher than a middling “ehhhhhhh” (with waffling handmotion), and the complete opposite of a dismal “ahhh rubbah.”¹

As a long-time rapper (and full time braddah), I had a general idea of what to expect when Bamboo Ridge invited me to read for their panel that morning, but still, I was smallkine hesitant. Sometimes literary events can be a little…well, boring, especially if you’re used to the more dynamic, performance-minded atmosphere of music festivals. And the fact that this is the Hawaiʻi Book & Music Festival had me worried that maybe us writers would get completely overshadowed by the music aspect of the event. Like, would anybody even show up to my reading? 

Turns out I had nothing to worry about.

Not only did we have a very solid turnout for the Bamboo Ridge 45th Anniversary, Issue #124 reading I was a part of (over fifty people! in the morning no less!), I was stoked to see that, overall, the Festival was packed, and the writers and poets consistently drew large crowds. Like, there must have been five hundred people there, just on the first day²– maybe more! And I understand why now, too. After my reading, I got to walk around the fest as a fan, taking in the sights and popping in on various panels, readings, discussions etc., and it was incredible. Seriously, just check out how my day went:

• In the morning, I did the Bamboo Ridge Issue #124 panel, and even if I wasn’t a reader, it would have been a treat – I got to listen as Bamboo Ridge co-founder Darrell Lum moderated an event which had readings that made me buss laugh (John Simonds’ “Medicine Shoulders the Burden”), made me want to cry (Jonathon Medeiros’ “Laulima Asks About Smoothies”), and gave me chicken skin (Ann Inoshita’s “Wea Pidgin Stay”)³.
• I saw one of the most innovative and influential authors in Hawaiʻi, Chris McKinney, talk in detail about his groundbreaking Water City Trilogy Series, his process, and writing in general⁴.
• Hawaiʻi State Poet Laureate Brandy Nālani McDougall was joined by fellow poets Noʻu Revilla and Donovan Kūhiō Colleps, and together they shared some blisteringly brilliant and unflinchingly honest work.
• Wing Tek Lum’s reading from his new book, The Old Timers, was special. Watching a master of the craft in their element is something I can never get enough of.
• The Bamboo Ridge Press booth, which, like the author press booths, had a host of great Local literature, but which also had the benefit of being hosted by a roving cast of famous Hawaiʻi writers and poets (when I arrived, it was manned by Ann Inoshita, Hawaiʻi’s noir-master Scott Kikkawa, and esteemed Pidgin linguist Kent Sakoda).
• The More Honolulu Stories panel, which featured a murderer’s row of authors, including the brilliant Joseph Han, who is exactly the kind of writing professor I wish I’d had in college; Megan Kakimoto, who is a knife sheathed in velvet: don’t let her soft demeanor fool you, she is full of sharpness and iron; Donald Carreira Ching, who gave what was probably my favorite reading of the day; and Kristiana Kahakauwila, who is not only one of Hawaii’s great literary voices of the last ten years, but also a very patient person, as she let me ramble on and on when we met (I think I told her she was “mayjah” about seven times lol smh).
• Also some random Misty Sanico sightings, which are always the best!

And that’s not even counting the stuff I missed, like the live music, the Elliot Cades and Loretta D. Petrie Award ceremonies⁵, and some very important panels addressing AI and the arts. And that was just the first day! I’m sure Day 2 was just as great. Speaking of great things, I should probably note that most, if not all, of the authors did meet and greets! I met so many amazing people that I admire, and of course I got pictures with almost none of them. Story of my life. 

There were also some ‘ono lunch options: I had a delicious but messy – we’re talking “so messy I was worried I was gonna have to change my shirt messy” – gyro, as well as my first sighting of a Goteburg musubi outside of Kaua’i, which I’m still trying to wrap my head around; I also seen that the curry option looked pretty killah too. And they were all Locally owned! 

In fact, that was one of the best parts of the festival: putting aside the books and music, as a longtime Local artist, it was just so nice to see so many people coming together from all over Hawaiʻi to support Local Art. If for no other reason than that, the Hawaiʻi Book & Music Festival is an event worth attending. Seeing so many like-minded individuals coming together to celebrate the arts was so inspiring, and I left that day ready to take on the world through my own art. If you’re looking for inspiration as an artist, or if you’re just looking to celebrate Hawaiʻi’s best and brightest, I highly recommend checking out the Hawaiʻi Book & Music Festival, because as great as it is, it needs you⁶, the Reader (as do we all), to keep on going! 

So yeah. tl;dr the Hawaiʻi Book & Music Festival is mayjah!

And so is Kristiana Kahakauwila.