400:) features the life and times of Julia Daniels, a Moloka'i pioneer woman of mixed blood, who invites her grandsons Jeff and Ben to spend the summer with her at her ranch. She shares the land with ex-husband Chipper, an alcoholic war hero with an estate bordering the swamp. The boys roam a true paradise consisting of fishponds, waterfalls, and mountains with herds of deer. Jeff meets the kahuna woman who freezes pictures of her enemies, the transsexual who seduces the Chief of Police, the man who referees cock fights in Kaunakakai, the beautiful divorcee who lives in the saddle room, and the prodigal grandfather who returns to woo Julia. All these characters shape Jeff's sensibilities as he learns the secrets of his grandmother's wild past in Honolulu and the intensity of her struggles on the Lonely Isle.
476:(New Zealand). He represented the Pacific Rim region of Hawaii at this writers conference. Wright also won a Visiting Writer post at the 2010 Martha's Vineyard Writers Residency in Edgartown, Mass., and was the 2011 Artist in Residence at Milkwood International, Czech Republic. He won both the 2012 Honolulu Weekly Nonfiction Prize and the 2012 Honolulu Weekly Poetry Prize. Wright was the 2014 Resident Scholar at the Earthskin Artist Colony in Auckland, New Zealand. He was awarded Certificates of Excellence in three different Published Book categories at the 2014 San Diego Book Awards. Wright received a 2015 Certificate of Recognition from the 76th District of the California Legislature Assembly for his body of work and his exceptional dedication to writing.
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about her life and times on the islands. This meeting proved influential to the young Wright because Cooke wrote about his grandmother. Evidence of Wright's love for the written word surfaced at the Star of the Sea
Elementary School in Honolulu, where he crafted and performed plays about vampires,
381:) boy narrator searching for his identity in this private school. His rites of passage include losing the girl of his dreams, not living up to his father's great expectations, surviving Killahaole Day, being suspended, sibling rivalry, fighting the school bully, and navigating the tricky waters of
436:
was a
Finalist at the San Diego Book Awards and Honorable Mention at the Hawaii Book Awards. He was recently interviewed on Fox Morning News, Art Rocks internet radio in San Diego, and Hawaiian Kine News out of Las Vegas. He is a frequent guest on 50th State Radio, hosted by Uncle Paul Natto and
47:
Wright's work is primarily concerned with the complexities of multicultural Hawaii, Killahaole Day, prejudices against (and within) island high schools, and the tricky matter of interracial dating. He incorporates the local creole language into his novels and was the first author to document the
40:(whites) and the indigenous Hawaiians, and illustrate the challenge for characters who, as the product of mixed-race marriages, must try to bridge the two cultures and overcome prejudice from both camps. Wright has ventured into the genre of creative nonfiction in 2019 with
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in the 7th Grade and won the short story competition. Despite winning this competition, he felt like an outsider at
Punahou School and his experiences at this private institution became fertile material for his
479:
He was the 2016 Artist in
Residence at the Eckerö Mail and Customs House in the Åland Islands, Finland, and won the 2018 Redwood Empire Mensa Award for creative nonfiction. In April, 2019, he was recognized by
75:, Wright's great-uncle and lifelong resident of the asylum. Both books received Certificates of Excellence at the 2014 San Diego Book Awards. HOUDINI, his first play, was performed at
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is a futuristic thriller set in the not-too-distant future featuring a survivalist couple roaming an apocalyptic landscape from San Diego north to Crater Lake, Oregon.
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484:, the Mayor of Vista, California, for his contributions to local arts as well as his inclusion in over 200 literary journals around the world.
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236:. His father, Harold S. Wright, was a corporate attorney for the firm Smith Wild BeeBe & Cades. His mother, the former June McCormack of
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347:. Kirby Wright earned a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing and was the first student in the history of his university to receive the (
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244:. Starting at the age of four, Wright spent summers with his part-Hawaiian grandmother Julia Gilman on her ranch on the east end of
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Memorial Prize in Poetry, the Ann Fields Poetry Prize, the
Academy of American Poets Award, the Ad Hoc Flash Fiction Award, two
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377:. The novel provides insight into the tumultuous 1960s and '70s in multicultural Honolulu, from the viewpoint of a white (
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36:, which is based on the life and times of Wright's paniolo grandmother. Both novels deal with the racial tensions between
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Kirby Wright has been nominated for five
Pushcart Prizes and three Best of the Net Awards. He is a past recipient of the
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44:, which explores the teenage years of his part-Hawaiian grandmother and documents the Wright family saga in the islands.
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He won a
Visiting Writer post at the 2009 International Writers Conference in Hong Kong, where he joined fellow US poet
327:, then became public relations director for the Carlsbad Inn and San Clemente Cove. Rich but unhappy, he applied to the
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pro wrestlers, and secret agents. Kirby Wright won first place in a recital competition for his reading of "Trees" by
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broadcast live over the
Internet from Las Vegas. Wright is a subject of biographical entry in ten editions of
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224:, Hawaii. He is of English-Irish-Italian-Hawaiian heritage. His European roots are in
49:
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Kirby Wright is represented by
Geraldine Nichol of The Book Bureau Literary Agency in
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is set, in part, at the former state asylum in
Worcester, Mass., and is dedicated to
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432:), his first book of poetry, took First Place at the San Diego Book Awards.
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316:. Wright received a B.A. degree in English and American literature of the
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335:. While at the San Francisco State University, he took classes taught by
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and was accepted into their Masters Program in Creative Writing by
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After graduation, wright sold cars for a living at Rancho Olds in
292:. At the University of Hawaiʻi, he studied under the tutelage of
729:"Ginsberg thought I was an airhead, Vonnegut said I was 'loose'"
416:
Awards for Dramatic Monologue, seven San Diego Book Awards, and
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Award for Dramatic Monologue, and the Ann Fields Poetry Prize).
755:
Jay Fidell talks with author, Kirby Wright about his new book,
240:, was a secretary at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
241:
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from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially
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543:
Square Dancing at the Asylum: Nouveau Noir Flash Fiction.
456:
as well as Pacific Rim colleagues Young-Ha Kim (Korea),
621:
The Queen of Moloka'i, Book 1: Based on a True Story.
513:
Before the City: Collected Poems & Prose Poems.
709:"Molokai Writer Places in National Poetry Contest"
645:Morongo Valley, California: Bottlecap Press, 2024.
539:Patterson, New York: The Last Automat Press, 2013.
748:Return of the Prodigal Author (Community Matters)
503:San Diego, California: Heebie-Jeebie Press, 1986.
52:spoken by the paniolo cowboys on the east end of
443:and was listed in the 2001 and 2007 editions of
639:San Diego, California: Lemon Shark Press, 2021.
623:San Diego, California: Lemon Shark Press, 2019.
607:San Diego, California: Lemon Shark Press, 2017.
601:San Diego, California: Lemon Shark Press, 2017.
569:San Diego, California: Lemon Shark Press, 2015.
563:San Diego, California: Lemon Shark Press, 2014.
545:San Diego, California: Lemon Shark Press, 2013.
533:San Diego, California: Lemon Shark Press, 2013.
527:San Diego, California: Lemon Shark Press, 2007.
525:Moloka'i Nui Ahina: Summers on the Lonely Isle.
521:San Diego, California: Lemon Shark Press, 2005.
515:San Diego, California: Lemon Shark Press, 2003.
24:is an American writer best known for his 2005
288:for one semester and then transferred to the
8:
557:St. Louis, Missouri: Architrave Press, 2013.
308:, where he took classes taught by the poets
261:and also won awards for his original poems.
803:Foley, Kerri Farrell, ed. (June 28, 2013).
883:University of California, San Diego alumni
132:about living persons that is unsourced or
783:Berry, Jennifer Dietz (January 4, 2006).
203:Learn how and when to remove this message
575:La Mesa, California: Etched Press, 2015.
392:was published in August 2007. The book (
252:, a cattle rancher who wrote the memoir
655:
599:At the Customs House: Poetry and Flash.
551:Westbrook, Maine: Moon Pie Press, 2013.
59:Wright has ventured into the arena of
727:Wright, Kirby Michael (May 15, 2023).
605:The Wounded Morning: Poetry and Flash.
893:University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni
878:San Francisco State University alumni
765:"Molokai story is a first-rate novel"
683:"Molokai story is a first-rate novel"
509:: Green Turtle Press Chapbooks, 2002.
460:(China), Atsushi Shiitada (Okinawa),
420:Fellowships in Poetry and The Novel.
373:) is Wright's high-school alma mater
7:
809:Crack the Spine – Literary Magazine
763:Egan, Michael (September 9, 2007).
681:Egan, Michael (September 9, 2007).
306:University of California, San Diego
79:in New York on February 20, 2016.
833:21st-century American male writers
561:Notes Above Water: Selected Poems.
318:University of California San Diego
14:
501:Champagne Eyes: Poetry and Prose.
286:University of Colorado at Boulder
707:Kiyonaga, Jack (July 19, 2024).
99:
838:21st-century American novelists
573:The Girl With the Green Violin.
248:. It was here that Wright met
805:"Featured Writer of the Month"
637:Sorrow Town: Selected Stories.
567:Hong Kong Man: Selected Poems.
329:San Francisco State University
290:University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
63:with a pair of books in 2013.
1:
888:University of Colorado alumni
264:Kirby was transferred to the
304:. Wright transferred to the
110:biography of a living person
69:Square Dancing at the Asylum
843:21st-century American poets
643:American Dreamland: Poetry.
617:, New York, New York, 2017.
615:Manhattan Repertory Theatre
595:, New York, New York, 2016.
585:, New York, New York, 2016.
418:Arts Council Silicon Valley
137:must be removed immediately
914:
627:As Big As a Dallas Cowboy.
388:A parallel novel entitled
83:produced his second play,
633:, Honolulu, Hawaii, 2019.
549:The Widow from Lake Bled.
365:The setting of the book (
349:Academy of American Poets
664:"Kirby Wright - Fiction"
863:Native Hawaiian writers
848:American male novelists
87:, on November 4, 2016.
785:"Growing up in Hawaii"
446:Who's Who in the World
404:Awards and recognition
124:Please help by adding
898:Writers from Honolulu
873:Punahou School alumni
868:Novelists from Hawaii
351:Award as well as the
339:, Daniel J. Langton,
310:Bobbie Louise Hawkins
42:The Queen of Moloka'i
757:The Queen of Molokai
713:The Molokai Dispatch
631:ARTS at Marks Garage
629:A play performed at
613:A play performed at
591:A play performed at
581:A play performed at
440:Who's Who in America
294:Maxine Hong Kingston
284:Wright attended the
130:Contentious material
22:Kirby Michael Wright
853:American male poets
531:The End, My Friend.
390:Molokai'i Nui Ahina
345:Harry Mark Petrakis
271:coming-of-age novel
228:, Ireland, Nelson,
220:Wright was born in
61:speculative fiction
32:and the epic novel
593:The Secret Theatre
583:The Secret Theatre
555:Outside the Hotel.
472:(Philippines) and
383:interracial dating
81:The Secret Theatre
77:the Secret Theatre
65:The End, My Friend
34:Moloka'i Nui Ahina
668:Connotation Press
537:Permanent Damage.
398:978-0-9741067-2-4
314:Jerome Rothenberg
254:Sincerely, Sophie
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650:References
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579:Houdini.
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466:Chen Li
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238:Boston
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