Literature and Drama of Hawaiʻi
and Other Pacific Island Nations
Other Pacific Island Writers:
To better understand our place in the Pacific, we include this page featuring authors whose works
examine life in other Pacific Island nations.
Melal: with Robert Barclay (Marshall Islands)
an Interview by Mary Alexander
July 03, 2018
Robert Barclay, who resides in Kāneʻohe, Hawaiʻi, is the award-winning author of Meļaļ, a novel that takes place in the Marshall Islands. Published in 2002, Meļaļ was short-listed for the 2003 Kiriyama Prize, selected for the Barnes and Noble “Discover Great New Writers” program, won the Harriet Goldsberry Award, and was long-listed for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2004. The book is currently being adapted into a film titled Until the Dolphin Flies which will be jointly produced by Te Maka Productions in Hawaiʻi, Freshwater Pictures in Australia, and Blueskin Films in New Zealand.
Author Interview: Mary Rokonadravu (Fiji)
by Mary Alexander
June 13, 2018
Out of a field of nearly 4,000 entries, “Famished Eels” by Fijian writer Mary Rokonadravu won the 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for the Pacific Region; Rokanadravu was shortlisted for this prize again in 2017 with “The Brief Insignificant History of Peter Abraham Stanhope.” Her writing is fueled by her passion to give Fijians a voice in a world that threatens their authentic existence and often tries to speak for them: “I live and write in a fragile democracy. A small island country beset by issues of climate change and globalisation – I belong to peoples at the frontlines of loss and ultimate disappearance without having found a voice. It is not an easy space to inhabit...
"Black Magic" with Eva Abraham (Pohnpei)
An Author Interview by Sarah Dunaway
October 17, 2017
Eva Abraham is 19 years old originally from Pohnpei (Capital of the Federated States of Micronesia). She has been living in Hawaiʻi for almost 10 years. She is currently a student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo working on a major in Business Administration and a Certificate in Performing Arts. She is currently writing a short play titled "Black Magic," which is based on a true story of things she was told as a little girl...
Author Interview with Kiki Rivera (Samoa & Aotearoa)
by Aprille Rose Cariaga
March 21, 2017
Kiki Rivera is a performer based in Hawaiʻi. She has acted in several plays written by New Zealand playwright, Victor Rodger. Her latest work involves a play titled Puzzy, which she wrote with Victor Rodger. Puzzy is a coming-out story that gives an important perspective to Pacific Island Theatre. In October 2016, Kiki Rivera visited UH Hilo and put on a staged playreading of Puzzy. As a UH Hilo student, I was able to attend the playreading and thoroughly enjoyed the play and its message. It is about a girl accepting her sexuality, along with elements of religion. I think this play offers an interesting and important perspective not only on topics of sexuality and religion, but it is also something that people can relate to in real life on a deeper level. In my interview with Kiki Rivera regarding her work, one thing she said really resonated with me: “Everyone has a story to tell and I hope they find the strength to tell it.”