Language of the Land 2005 Guest Writers’ Biographies
Ku’ualoha Ho’omanawanui is a Hawaiian writer and editor of ‘Oiwi, a native Hawaiian journal dedicated to the thoughts and works of Hawaiian writers. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in English at the University of Hawai‘i, Mänoa. Her dissertation is an analysis of 19th century Pele literature and the politics of publishing and translation during this unstable period in Hawaii’s history. She is the recipient of a Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship.
Debra Magpie Earling is a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Montana. She teaches at the University of Montana in the Creative Writing Program and has also taught in the department of Native American Studies. She has published fiction and essays in numerous anthologies and journals including The Best Last Place; Talking Leaves: An Anthology of Native American Writers; The Best of Northern Lights; Circle of Women; Reinventing the Enemy’s Language and Ploughshares. In 2003 her novel Perma Red won the American Book Award, the WILLA award, and the Spur Award, among others.
Kim Stafford is Director of the Northwest Writing Institute and the William Stafford Center at Lewis & Clark College in Oregon, where he has taught since 1979. He holds a Ph.D. in medieval literature and is an accomplished writer with a dozen works of poetry and prose to his credit. One of his books, Having Everything Right, won a citation for excellence from the Western States Book Awards in 1986. Stafford has received creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a Governor’s Art Award recognizing his contributions to Oregon’s literary culture.
Larissa Behrendt is Professor of Law and Indigenous Studies and Director of the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. She is a practicing lawyer and lecturer who has worked with the United Nations and sits on various legal councils and committees. Behrendt has published on property law, indigenous rights, dispute resolution and Aboriginal women’s issues. With her first novel, Home, Behrendt weaves a family’s contemporary Aboriginal lives with past experiences to create a sprawling illustration on the impact of institutions, prejudice and social stigma on Indigenous Australians. Home recently won the Commonwealth Book Prize.
Mark Tredinnick is a writer, teaches ecology and literature, and runs workshops in creative nonfiction and nature writing at centers across Australia. In 2004, Mark edited A Place on Earth: An Anthology of Nature Writing from North America and Australia, a unique collection of essays from highly acclaimed nature writers in both countries. His essays and book reviews appear regularly in Australia’s premier news magazine, The Bulletin. His dissertation, Writing In the Wild, a study of the literature of place, is due for publication this year.
"My Hawai'i Story" writing contest. The Hawai'i Conservation Alliance (HCA) and the Pacific Writers Connection (PWC) embarked in this educational outreach project for middle and intermediate schools statewide. The project closed May 17, 2007 and 25 winners were announced on July 1, 2007. You can read the published Anthology, a collection of stories and poems about Hawai'is environment written by the finalists by clicking the link below:
My Hawai'i Story Project
A Placeon Earth: An Anthology of Nature Writing from North America and Australia, a unique collection of essays from highly acclaimed nature writers in both countries. His essays and book reviews appear regularly in Australia’s premier news magazine, The Bulletin. His dissertation, Writing In the Wild, a study of the literature of place, is due for publication this year.
