About this Event
Poet Kalehua Kim visits the store to discuss and read from her debut collection, Mele, alongside fellow Native Hawaiian writers Malia Maxwell and Keliko K. M. Adams. Kim's book evokes modes of language and culture that shape the contours of memory and expose the fault lines of family and self, as well as the grace and generosity of healing, acknowledgement, and commemoration.
Mele, by Kalehua Kim, embodies the meaning of the word "mele" - a Hawaiian song or chant traditionally used to preserve history through the oral tradition. Winner of the Trio House Press Editor's Choice Prize, Kim's debut collection evokes modes of language and culture that shape the contours of memory and expose the fault lines of family and self, as well as the grace and generosity of healing, acknowledgement, and commemoration. The poems reflect on what we inherit and how who we become is intertwined with who our parents were and are, and the pain of facing that reality: "One day your voice will become mine,Ka leo o maua/Though I am not prepared for your end..." With this mele, Kim honors the memory of a lost mother, as well as the struggles of a daughter as she becomes a wife and mother herself, while honoring her roots and forging a new path.
Kalehua Kim is a poet living in the Pacific Northwest. Born of Hawaiian, Chinese, Filipino and Portuguese descent, her multicultural background informs much of her work. She is a 2023 winner of the James Welch Prize for Indigenous Poets and earned her MFA through the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University. She was a Fellow with the Indigenous Nations Poets in 2023 and 2024 and her poems have appeared in Poetry Northwest, Denver Quarterly, Calyx, and ‘Ōiwi, A Native Hawaiian Journal. As a winner of the 2024 Trio House Press Editors Choice Prize, her first collection of poems, Mele, was released by Trio House in 2025.
Malia Maxwell (Kanaka Maoli) is a writer from Seattle, Washington. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in The Kenyon Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Poetry Northwest, and elsewhere. Her writing has been supported by scholarships and fellowships from Bread Loaf Environmental and the Vermont Studio Center. She holds an MFA in Poetry from the Helen Zell Writers' Program. Visit her at maliamaxwell.com.
Keliko K. M. Adams is a writer, artist, and educator from Wahiawā, Hawai'i, now based in the Pacific Northwest. She received her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts where she is also a Fellow with the Center for Arts and Social Justice. Her short story, "The Night Marchers", was included in the The Haunted States of America, published by Macmillan, and her personal essay, "Other, Together", is forthcoming in Mixed Roots: 30 Writers on Multiracial Both/And Belonging from Beacon Press. Her mixed media illustrations have been included in group exhibits at the Seattle Convention Center and as part of the Wing Luke Museum's exhibit, DISplace, featuring Native Hawaiian artists living in the Pacific Northwest.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Casa Latina Seattle, 317 17th Avenue South, Seattle, United States
USD 0.00
