Mānoa Journal will be at AWP 2025 in the Los Angeles Convention Center! Featuring thousands of literary professionals and hundreds of events celebrating the act of writing, the AWP Conference and Bookfair is one of the largest writing events in the world. Mānoa Journal will be present both at the bookfair and hosting special events throughout on our latest two releases and our upcoming issue, Architectures of FuturoPasados.
During the conference, swing by our booth 614 at the AWP Bookfair in West Hall A anytime the conference is open from Thursday March 27 to Saturday March 29. Come see us for the chance to buy a subscription to our journal, check out samples of premiere publications from University of Hawaiʻi Press, and chat with students in the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa creative writing program. This is a great chance to support our work and to talk with the amazing people who make our journal possible. There will also be an assortment of free goodies we will be handing out so make sure to stop by!
While you peruse the panels at AWP, make sure to visit our special panel, Cane & Malunggay: Mānoa Journal Explores South Asian Coolie & Philippine History, from 12:10pm–1:25pm on Saturday March 29th in room 409AB of the convention center. Love the works from our recent issues? Well, you’ll get a chance to hear our contributors talk in-person about the South Asian Coolie Diaspora and Philippine political resistance at this one-in-a-lifetime gathering of incredible writers!
And for any interested in hearing works from the upcoming generation of writers, we will be hosting Pau Hana Friday, an off-site reading event along with the UH Mānoa creative writing program, on Friday March 28 from 5pm–7pm at the South Park Commons next to Pine & Crane in downtown Los Angeles. Pau Hana Friday will be a grand gathering of UH student voices and vibrant tales created in the heart of the Hawaiian islands. Snacks and drinks will also be provided. Register here!
Also, take the time to check out more from our contributors by visiting any of the panels below. The bolded names indicate panel participants who are past or forthcoming contributors to our journal and/or those who are associated with the UH English Department that helps make our journal possible. Watch these amazingly talented authors share their insights in publishing, indigenous resistance, and more!
Thursday 3/27/25
| Thieves or Transformers? How Much of Fiction Is Fiction | ||
| Time: 9:00-10:15 | Presenter: T Kira Mahealani Madden, Moderator: Leslie Kirk Campbell, Presenter: Lizbeth Hasse, Presenter: Ananda Lima, Presenter: Sidik Fofana | Location: Room 502B, Level Two |
| Write Indigenously: Poets on Language Revitalization & Sovereignty | ||
| Time: 9:00-10:15 | Presenter: Kalilinoe Detwiler, Presenter: Arielle Taitano Lowe, Presenter: Casandra Lopez, Annie Wenstrup, Moderator: Mary Leauna Christensen | Location: Room 406AB, Level Two |
| Literary Archives: Practices for Institutions, Communities & Individuals | ||
| Time: 9:00-10:15 | Presenter: Romeo Guzman, Moderator: Johanna Drucker, Presenter: Jennifer Johnson, Presenter: Quentin Ring, Presenter: Greg Williams | Location: Concourse Hall 153 ABC, Level One |
| A Reading from Recent Prizewinning Short Story Collections | ||
| Time: 9:00-10:15 | Presenter: Terese Svoboda, Moderator: Marian Crotty, Presenter: Mubanga Kalimamukwento, Presenter: Christian Moody, Presenter: Nina Sudhakar | Location: Room 511AB, Level Two |
| The Art of the Uncanny | ||
| Time: 12:10-1:25 | Presenter: Carribean Fragoza, Presenter: Kate Folk, Presenter: Anita Felicelli, Moderator: Heather Scott Partington, Presenter: Rita Bullwinkel | Location: Room 403A, Level Two |
| Queering Form, or Weird Fiction, Sponsored by the Center for Fiction | ||
| Time: 1:45-3:00 | Presenter: Kazim Ali, Presenter: Andrea Lawlor, Moderator: Nicole Caplain Kelly, Presenter: Henry Hoke | Location: Petree Hall D, Level One |
| Theories of Vastness: On Capaciousness in Poetry | ||
| Time: 3:20-4:35 | Presenter: Kazim Ali, Moderator: Issam Zineh, Presenter: Brenda Hillman, Presenter: Roger Reeves | Location: Concourse Hall 151, Level One |
| Voices from the “Other” California: A Sense of Place—Belonging & Divisions | ||
| Time: 3:20-4:35 | Presenter: Juan Felipe Herrera, Moderator: Mas Masumoto, Presenter: Isabel Quintero, Presenter: Susan Straight, Presenter: Lee Herrick | Location: Room 515A, Level Two |
Friday 3/28/25
| The Art of Noticing in the Age of Disappearance | ||
| Time: 9:00-10:15 | Presenter: Mai Der Vang, Presenter: Marie Mutsuki Mockett, Moderator: Brittany Torres Rivera, Presenter: Harryette Mullen, Presenter: Robin Walter | Location: Room 403A, Level Two |
| Positionality in Publishing | ||
| Time: 9:00-10:15 | Moderator: Andrew Hoe, Presenter: Mary Fan, Presenter: Frankie Huang | Location: Room 518, Level Two |
| The Long & Short of Craft: Authors Publishing Novels & Flash Fiction | ||
| Time: 9:00-10:15 | Presenter: Alan Michael Parker, Moderator: Sherrie Flick, Presenter: Venita Blackburn, Presenter: John Dufresne | Location: Room 502A, Level Two |
| Beauty of the Unwanted: Exploring the New Literary Terrain of California | ||
| Time: 9:00-10:15 | Moderator: Carribean Fragoza, Presenter: Ruth Nolan, Presenter: Melissa Hidalgo, Presenter: Jenise Miller | Location: Room 404AB, Level Two |
| Here & Now: Thoughts on the Second Indigenous Literary Renaissance | ||
| Time: 10:35-11:50 | Presenter: Kristiana Kahakauwila, Moderator: Conley Lyons, Presenter: Stacie Denetsosie, Presenter: Kinsale Drake, Presenter: Chelsea Hicks | Location: Room 406AB, Level Two |
| A Desert Full of Color: Creating & Supporting BIPOC Spaces in LA | ||
| Time: 10:35-11:50 | Presenter: Romeo Guzman, Moderator: Peter Woods, Presenter: Sarah Rafael Garcia, Presenter: traci kato-kiriyama | Location: Room 411, Level Two |
| Nightboat Books Through the Ages: A Twentieth-Anniversary Reading | ||
| Time: 12:10-1:25 | Moderator: Kazim Ali, Presenter: Dawn Lundy Martin, Presenter: Brandon Som, Presenter: Brian Teare, Presenter: Jackie Wang | Location: Petree Hall C, Level One |
| Concatenations of LA | ||
| Time: 12:10-1:25 | Presenter: Raquel Gutierrez, Presenter: Vickie Vertiz, Presenter: Alex Espinoza, Moderator: Ruben Martinez | Location: Room 409AB, Level Two |
| Of Two Minds: Cultivating a Liminal Space of Poetry & Translation | ||
| Time: 12:10-1:25 | Presenter: Daniel Borzutzky, Moderator: Kristin Dykstra, Presenter: Laura Cesarco Eglin, Presenter: Aaron Coleman, Presenter: Vivek Narayanan | Location: Room 410, Level Two |
| Meet Me Halfway: On Writing Other Cultures & Avoiding Self-Exoticization | ||
| Time: 1:45-3:00 | Presenter: Megan Kakimoto, Moderator: Dalia Azim, Presenter: Suchitra Gururaj, Presenter: Chaitali Sen, Presenter: Jenny Tinghui Zhang | Location: Room 403A, Level Two |
| On the Line: Ethical Approaches to Writing from the US-Mexico Border | ||
| Time: 3:20-4:35 | Presenter: Raquel Gutierrez, Moderator: Jo Blair Cipriano, Presenter: Logan Phillips, Presenter: Sophia Terazawa | Location: 404AB, Level Two |
| Literary Production During Authoritarian Governments | ||
| Time: 3:20-4:35 | Presenter: Emily Jungmin Yoon, Presenter: Christopher Soto, Presenter: Sally Wen Mao, Moderator: Alexandra Lytton Regalado, Presenter: Myriam Gurba | Location: Room 515A, Level Two |
| Excuse My Beauty: Queer Indigenous Poetics, Story & Time | ||
| Time: 3:20-4:25 | Presenter: No’u Revilla, Presenter: Michael Wasson, Moderator: Jake Skeets, Presenter: Billy-Ray Belcourt | Location: Room 518, Level Two |
Saturday 3/29/25
| Scene Work Makes the Dream Work | ||
| Time: 9:00-10:15 | Presenter: Kristiana Kahakauwila, Presenter: Mira Jacob, Presenter: Tracy O’Neill, Moderator: Marie-Helene Bertino, Presenter: Cleyvis Natera | Location: Room 403A, Level Two |
| The Challenges to Speaking Our Truth: Filipino Women Writing Nonfiction | ||
| Time: 9:00-10:15 | Presenter: Laurel Flores Fantauzzo, Moderator: Monica Macansantos, Presenter: Jen Palmares Meadows, Presenter: Melissa Chadburn, Presenter: Anna Cabe | Location: Room 511AB, Level Two |
| When a Book Takes Forever to Write: How to Survive the Process | ||
| Time: 10:35-11:50 | Presenter: Gina Apostol, Presenter: Shakstri Akella, Presenter: Margaret Lee Moderator: Sabina Murray, Presenter: Jeff Parker | Location: Room 502A, Level Two |
| Cane & Malunggay: Manoa Journal Explores South Asian Coolie & Philippine History | ||
| Time: 12:10-1:25 | Moderator: S. Shankar, Presenter: Rajiv Mohabir, Presenter: Vinod Busjeet, Presenter: Rachelle Cruz, Presenter: Gina Apostol | Location: Room 409AB, Level Two |
| On Tiger Balm & Fourth Kingdom: How Korean American Writers Have Built Community | ||
| Time: 1:45-3:00 | Presenter: Joseph Han, Presenter: Marie Myung-Ok Lee, Moderator: Hannah Bae Presenter: Alexander Chee, Presenter: Gene Kwak | Location: Concourse Hall 150 ABC, Level One |
MĀNOA 
Leave a comment