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@kauawrites

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Kanaka ‘Ōiwi Author + Poet 🌺
AN EXPANSE OF BLUE (Heartdrum) out NOW 💙
WA raised | CA living
Rep by @saracrowelit
MFA @vcfawcya

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We're thrilled to host our 2026 Intersectionality Panel! Please join us for an engaging discussion with our guests @kauawrites, @christinehartmanderr, @askdrwoodchuck, and @lezelpoet this Saturday! Follow the link in bio to join the online conversation. We hope to see you there!

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❤️ Read Indigenous Friday celebrating the beautiful & heartfelt (& award-winning) anthology Legendary Frybread Drive-In edited by the incredible @cynthialeitichsmith featuring some incredible Indigenous authors, & what else you can can read from their backlist, especially YA & MG books 🫶🏻

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🧡🤟🏼hey bookfam! I know America celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day a few days ago, but we celebrate indigenous people everyday here 🤙🏼

Which also reminded me I never posted about this recently published Hawaiian Gothic I read in August WHICH WAS ALSO RECENTLY ANNOUNCED AS THE FIRST HAWAIIAN BOOK TO EVER BE A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST !! VERY spooky. VERY suspenseful! Persimmons will never look the same. Love a sibling chaotic dynamic and this one was for sure. Perfect for the October spooky vibes TBR 🎃 I also read it during a hurricane as the winds were screeching by around the old house I was staying in by myself 😂 definitely upped the creepy factor lol

I immediately thought of the 80s science fiction movie Soylent Green, which my Dad had my brothers and I watch in middle school 🙈 iykyk

Some Hawaiian History in this one: Plantation era mix of cultures, the desecration of sacred lands to build modern developments 🫠, the Hawaiian diaspora, and more…

*image description: Background of a hotel yard and palm trees. Foreground is my hand holding That Which feeds Us by Keala Kendall.

*some goodies that came with the pre-order! The hotel invite is so creative!!

My family stayed at Aulani for my nephew’s 2nd birthday 🥳 (our first time ever because it’s so expensive for local families 😭 but grateful for the opportunities we get to feel like tourists too haha)

Image description: A hotel yard with palm trees in the background. In the foreground is a dark bookmark with pomegranates that says “Even paradise has its ghosts” and a fake hotel invitation to Kopa’a Island Resort

Image description: Faded background of a brown hotel and palm trees with white title at the top that says “Pasifika Voices I’ve read and loved.” 3 rows of 3 books, including Tala Learns to Siva by Kealani Netane, The Killing Spell by Shay Kauwe, Hawai’i Rage by Tore Eldridge, Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier, The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera, Dawn Raid by Pauline Vaeluaga Smith, The Shark Prince by Malia Maunakea, An Expanse of Blue, and That Which Feeds Us by Keala Kendall

Image description: Faded background of a brown hotel and palm trees with white title at the top that says “Pasifika s

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Celebrate #IndigenousPeoplesDay today and everyday by reading Indigenous authors (including me!).

What's your favorite Native-authored book that you've read this year?

#NativeAuthors #Kidlit #BookRecommendations #NativeBooks #ReadNative

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Happy Indigenous People’s Day!

We are honored to feature the following Native and Indigenous participants at Volume 3 of the OC Book Fair:

•Shane Hawk (enrolled Cheyenne-Arapaho tribes of Oklahoma and of Hidatsa & Potawatomi descent): Co-editor of “Never Whistle at Night”, author of “Anoka” and creator of the Native Horror Index.

•Kauakanilehua “Kaua” Māhoe Adams (First Generation Kanaka Maoli, Native Hawaiian): Author of “An Expanse of Blue” and featured contributor in “Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories”.

•Dr. Lukwe’tiyó Thomas “TJ” Reed (member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin): Author of “Kunolúkhwa Means I Love You: Oneida Stories from an Elder Grandmother and Her Grandson” and an Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies, California State University, Long Beach.

•Dr. Sarah Whitt (enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma): Author of “Bad Medicine: Settler Colonialism and the Institutionalization of American Indians” and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Global and International Studies at the University of California, Irvine.

•Gabriel “Gabe” Baltz (member of the Gabrieleño-Tongva Tribe):
University Student Moderator attending California State University, Long Beach.

We acknowledge that the OC Book Fair will take place on the ancestral land of the Tongva and the Acjachemen Nation.

#OCBookFair #IndigenousPeoplesDay #OrangeCounty #Bookstagram #Booktok

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Celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day with 2026 releases from Heartdrum!

AANIIN: I SEE YOUR LIGHT, written by Dawn Quigley (Ojibwe), illustrated by Nanibah Chacon (Navajo) (Heartdrum, 2026). Ages 4-up.

FREE TO FLY, written by Karina Iceberg (Aleut-Alutiiq), illustrated by Steph Littlebird (Kalapuya/Chinook)(Heartdrum, 2026). Age 4-up.

A GOOD HIDE, written by Karina Iceberg (Aleut (Unangax^) and Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) Nations), illustrated by Natasha Donovan (Métis)(Heartdrum, 2026). Ages 4-up.

HERE COME THE AUNTIES!, written by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee), illustrated by Aphelandra (Oneida)(Heartdrum, 2026). Ages 4-up.

HERE COME THE GRANDMAS!, written by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee), illustrated by Aphelandra (Oneida)(Heartdrum, 2026). Ages 4-up.

UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN: DONADAGOHVI, written by Christine Hartman Derr (Cherokee), illustrated by Morgan Thompson (Cherokee)(Heartdrum, 2026) Ages 4-up.

RAVEN, RISING by Christine Hartman Derr (Cherokee), cover art by Madelyn Goodnight (Chickasaw)(Heartdrum, summer 2026). Ages 8-up.

AN EXPANSE OF BLUE by Kauakanilehua Mahoe Adams (Kanaka Maoli/Native Hawaiian), cover art by JT Ojerio (Kanaka Maoli/Native Hawaiian)(Heartdrum, 2026). Ages 13-up.

LIKE GLASS by Jen Ferguson (Métis and white), cover art by Alanah Jewell (Oneida Nation of the Thames)(Heartdrum, 2026). Ages 13-up.

MEDICINE WHEELS by Byron Graves (Red Lake Ojibwe), cover art by Kameron White (Cherokee-Choctaw)(Heartdrum, 2026). Ages 13-up.
SHARDS OF SILENCE by Brian Young (Navajo), cover art by Lynnette Haozous (San Carlos Apache Tribe/Chiricahua Apache, Navajo, and Taos Pueblo ancestry)(Heartdrum, 2026).

And more! Check Heartdrum at HarperCollins for full list—running out of characters!

#indigenouspeoplesday #picturebooks #middlegradebooks #yabook #bookstagram

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reading stories by Native authors, all the time 🫶

on Indigenous Peoples' Day, we're highlighting these books by Native authors that showcase the present and future of Native and Indigenous peoples! what's on your reading list?

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Mahalo for this wonderful day spent with Hilo friends and kanaka maoli author @kauawrites at the iconic @bbookshilo ‼️
Talked story about #HawaiiRage #KauaiStorm and #AnExpanseOfBlue. Hung out with Hilo friends and two other Hilo authors who escaped before I remembered to snap photos. Then topped it off with stellar mochi from legendary @twoladieskitchen_hilo . A wonderful day, indeed❣️🌺📚😊

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Thank you to everyone who came to Words & Wine this month!

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@konastories Words & Wine was so my fun last night! And I got to meet 3 amazing authors, can’t wait to read their books too! @writer.tori @shaykauwe @kauawrites

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so proud to be pacific islander & debut this year with literal legends. fr i had to trim the accolades list because there are just 𝘴𝘰 many. please give these books some love, and keep supporting PI & marginalized authors ❤️

#pacificislanders #booktok #diversebooks #pasifika #bookshelf

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