About

I AM A WRITER

Issues of identity intrigue me.

A Chinese American writer of creative nonfiction, I was born in Honolulu. My personal essays and memoir work reflect many cultures, the intersections of cultures, and conflicts. I am shaped by many factors, some obvious, some oblique: family, environment, geography, language, politics, pop culture, health, affinities, work, education, economies, as well as by nationality and ethnicity. 
 I hope to give my readers a sense of what Hawaii means to someone born and raised there, to understand the rich culture of Hawaiians and their relationship to the land.

I AM KEIKI O KA ‘ĀINA

I am a child of the land. Born and raised in Honolulu when Hawaii was still a U.S. Territory, I was nurtured by the beauty of the islands, the ocean and land, the Hawaiian legends and culture. I am the middle daughter born in the mid-twentieth century to middle-class, Chinese American parents. Despite my private school education and my many years in Seattle, I am still a local girl at heart. I feel the pull to return to the islands often for regeneration and renewal. I have lived in Seattle since 1986, longer than my years in Hawai‘i. I am one of many, many thousands of island residents and Hawaiians who have left our island home for job and educational opportunities and an affordable lifestyle. Call us Hawai‘i expats or diaspora, my heart still is rooted there.