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Pacific Epic: Witi Ihimaera, Citizens' Chair
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| Professor Witi Ihimaera, Citizens' Chair and
Distinguished Visiting Writer. |
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In
January 2009, the
English department welcomed internationally acclaimed novelist,
playwright,
librettist, anthologist and teacher, PROFESSOR WITI IHIMAERA, to the
position
of Citizens' Chair.
Professor
Ihimaera was born
in Gisborne, of Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki descent, has close affiliations to
Tūhoe,
Te Whanau-a-Apanui, Ngāti Kahungunu, and Ngai Tamanuhiri, and links to
Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Porou, and Te Whakatohea.
He
is widely celebrated for
his fictional works, including the novels The
Matriarch, The Dream Swimmer, Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies, The
Uncle’s
Story, Sky Dancer and most recently, The
Rope of Man. His novel, The Whale
Rider, achieved huge success as a feature film. Professor
Ihimaera’s short
fiction spans decades, beginning with Pounamu
Pounamu in 1972, and including The
New
Net Goes Fishing, and Dear Miss
Mansfield. A selected short fiction, Ihimaera: His
Best Stories, the
Anniversary Collection, appeared in 2005.
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| Meet Uzma
Aslam Khan
Novelist
Uzma Khan joined the
department in Fall 2008 as a tenure-track Assistant Professor
specializing in
Creative
Writing. Her novel, TRESPASSING, has been translated into 13 different
languages.
Her third novel, THE GEOMETRY OF GOD, appeared in Pakistan in 2008,
and will
have its European and US release in 2009. Professor Khan also recently
taught a
course in
the literature of conflict.
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In Memoriam
Ian MacMillan
We note with
sadness the passing of Emeritus Professor Ian MacMillan, who was a long
term and much admired and respected faculty member.
Ian MacMillan taught in the UHM English Department's Creative Writing
Program since 1966. He authored seven novels and four short story
collections, made over a hundred appearances in literary and commercial
magazines, and won major awards for his short fiction including The
Associated Writing Programs Award, The O. Henry Award, Pushcart Prize,
and a Best American Short Stories Award. He received the 1992 Hawai`i
Award for Literature, and his novel VILLAGE OF A MILLION SPIRITS won
the 2000 PEN-USA-West Award for Fiction. Recent novels include THE
BRAID, and THE SEVEN ORCHIDS. Both books are set in Hawai`i.
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Farewell to
Albert Wendt and Reina Whaitiri
Albert Wendt, Citizens' Chair from
2004-2008, and Reina Whaitiri, have both retired from academia and
returned last summer to their homeland of Aotearoa. They both made a
tremendous impact on the intellectual, artistic and cultural life of
the Department during their tenure in Hawai'i. Their departure sparked
multiple formal and informal farewells on and off campus by their many
friends and colleagues in Hawai'i Nei.
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Interview
with Erica Reynolds Clayton
In
the Fall of 2007, Erica Reynolds Clayton took up the position of
tenure-track
Assistant Professor of English, Composition and Rhetoric. Drawing on
her
extensive experience and her publications in the field of
writing-program assessment,
Erica has quickly become a dynamic presence in the English Department
and
beyond. Among many roles, she is director of the Writing Centre. What
stands
out about Reynolds Clayton is how passionately she works for the
students.
Erica is interviewed by Anne Kennedy.
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Mark Heberle
Welcome to
the fourth edition of Tradewinds,
the English Department Electronic Newsletter. In these difficult times
for all of us, it is good to be reminded how much and how well faculty
and students in the Department contribute to the improvement of our
collective literary and cultural life. We hope that as a member of the
Department past, present, and future, you will not only enjoy this
year’s issue but will also keep in touch with us through
notes on your accomplishments as well as by sharing suggestions for
future issues. I’d like to thank Professor Anne Kennedy, who
has so splendidly put together this and last year’s issues
after the two inaugural numbers supervised by Professor Cindy Franklin.
If you have news you wish to share with the rest of our extended
English Department ‘ohana, please contact Anne at
anne.kennedy@hawaii.edu or get in touch with me at heberle@hawaii.edu.
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