Aloha Dear Reader,

Welcome to The Hawai‘i Review of Books. With contributions from near and far, we’re starting you off with Kiana Davenport’s epic Letter on her COVID year in Manhattan; Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada’s tasty tale of horror; Paul Theroux’s epic surf novel; Chris McKinney on Kazuo Ishiguro’s latest; Scott Kikkawa’s Column of Crime report on our state’s curious sex culture; Mark Panek’s debut of his serial, The Professor, The Pool Guy, and The Paniolo; a little writing diagnosis and advice from Dr. Stephanie Han; a Q&A between Thuy Da Lam and National Book Award winner, Buddhist, martial artist/novelist Charles Johnson; and more.

Since beginning our outreach three months ago, more than 40 other contributors have sent us new work, started writing, pitched, or are weighing their involvement. This is beyond our initial hopes and validates the idea of putting this platform out in the middle of the Pacific. THROB ensures that our stories will be told, our way, by us.

The criteria is simple: “Intended to be by, for and about those who read, write and engage with the Islands.” But while much of our content will relate to Hawai‘i and the Pacific Rim, don’t be surprised to see Proust or #BLM or Ishiguro pop up. We are citizens of the world and its literatures, after all. We plan on keeping the quality high. But we’re not stuffy about it; we admit to being playful. Instead of process, meetings, and committees, we have independent editors who are curators, casting an ever-wider net.

Please click through to get started. Sign up for our newsletter. Email us.
And—mahalo!

Don Wallace, Editor
James Charisma, Creative Director

Curators / Associate Editors
Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada
Scott Kikkawa
Misty Sanico
Mindy Eun Soo Pennybacker