Writer's Block

Celebrate Reading

Just got back (yesterday) from spending the day on Molokai as a presenter with the Celebrate Reading festival. I did this last year on Maui and was thrilled to go to Molokai to participate again.

Celebrate Reading is a literature festival for students. A bunch of authors come in and give 10-20 minute readings, then sit in break-out sessions to talk about their work and do a Q&A with the kids. Afterwards there's a chance to mingle and talk story. Boy, I wish I had a chance to do something like this when I was in high school!

This year's event on Molokai featured Graham Salisbury, quite a well-known author of juvenile fiction books, including Blue Skin of the Sea and Under a Blood Red Sun, along with local authors Patricia Wood, Takashi Matsuoka and yours truly. We also had some performances by local "slam" poet Kealoha.

It was pretty humbling.  Kealoha was hip and cool and a big hit with everyone, and apparently the kids had been reading Graham Salisbury's books for months in preparation, and he was an amazing speaker and storyteller. During the breaks they were lining up to take photos with him. In contrast, during one of my breakout sessions I asked the kids why they had chosen to come to my group, and they told me they'd been ASSIGNED! Hoo boy, tough crowd.

Still, I had a great time. I didn't mess up too badly during my reading. The kids had some great questions about journalism and writing. I gave a signed copy of my book, Rough Riders, to one quiet kid after I learned his dad was a Molokai Ranch paniolo, and I heard from his teacher later that it made his day and he couldn't stop talking about it. But the icing on the cake was the unreal potluck spread provided by the Molokai High School teachers -- with two kinds of chili, herbed salmon steaks, fried chicken, shoyu chicken, glazed ham, enchilada casserole, all kinds of salads, and the biggest surprise hit, cheesy baked grits with jalapenos.

So mahalo, Molokai!