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    Hawaiʻi State Poet Laureate 2022-2025 - Honolulu, Hawaiʻi

    Brandy Nālani McDougall has been selected as the next Hawaiʻi State Poet Laureate (HSPL) as part of the new collaborative initiative between     Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities, State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, and the Hawaiʻi State Public Library System. She will be the second Hawaiʻi State Poet Laureate, succeeding Kealoha (2012-2022).



    She will be the Hawaiʻi State Poet Laureate from 2023-2025. Her inaugural event will be Friday, January 13, 2022, 6:00-9:00 p.m. at the     Hawaiʻi State Art Museum as part of the monthly live music night, The Vibe.

    Born and raised on Maui in the ahupuaʻa of Aʻapueo in Kula, McDougall is the author of the poetry collection, The Salt-Wind, Ka Makani Paʻakai (2008). She is also a teacher and mother. Her second poetry collection, ʻĀina Hānau, Birth Land, is inspired by her daughters and is forthcoming from the University of Arizona Press in Summer 2023.

    As part of her term as Hawaiʻi State Poet Laureate, McDougall wants to highlight the ways poetry can heal and bring connection. “Poetry really gave me a place and a way to heal, and right now, as we're all emerging from a space where we've been literally isolated for two years—where we weren't able to meet as much with other people and have genuine human to human connections, or even human to ‘āina connections, so there's a real need for that healing in this space and time. I think poetry can be that space for a lot of people. As the Hawaiʻi Poet Laureate, I'd like to be able to share that.”

    “Brandy has contributed so much ea to our literature in Hawaiʻi. I have been reading Brandy’s poetry with gratitude for years and am excited to see the paths she builds alongside other writers in Hawaiʻi as poet laureate. Brandy believes in the power of moʻolelo. Hers is an unshakeable and luminous faith. I know she will serve this kuleana with tremendous focus and aloha.” says Noʻu Revilla, 2021 National Poetry Series winner.

    McDougall will be planning to offer poetry readings and workshops at schools (including Hawaiian-language schools and special education programs), public libraries, and organizations that support transition out of incarceration, and other community spaces throughout the Hawaiian Islands. To find out more about Brandy Nālani McDougall and the Hawaiʻi State Poet Laureate program, visit     HIHumanities.org/hawaiʻi-state-poet-laureate. An interview with Brandy is also available on the HIHumanities YouTube channel: youtu.be/0dgPc6s3faQ. You can also find out about upcoming events by following the Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities on Instagram (@HiHumanities) and Facebook (@HiHumanities).

    Available for interviews
    Brandy Nālani McDougall and Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities Director of Literary and Conversation Programs Lyz Soto are both available for interviews upon request. Please contact Lyz Soto at LSoto@HIHumanities.org.

    Get to know her in this interview, where Brandy talks story with Lyz Soto about how she discovered poetry and they ways it has changed her, including saving her life. Content warning: this interview contains references to sexual assault and trauma (timestamp: 5:38-6:19).
    HIHumanities.org

    Contact: Lyz Soto, Director of Literary and Conversation Programs, Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities
    Telephone: 808-732-5402 x 7
    Brandy Nālani McDougall

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The mission of the Hawai‘i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts is to promote, perpetuate, preserve and encourage culture and the arts, history and the humanities as central to the quality of life of the people of Hawai‘i. HSFCA funding is provided by the State of Hawai‘i and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Hawaii State Art Museum

The Hawai'i State Art Museum is dedicated to presenting the largest and finest collection of works by Hawai'i artists that celebrate the diverse artistic and cultural legacy of Hawai'i.

OUR MISSION
To promote, perpetuate, preserve and encourage culture and the arts, history and the humanities as central to the quality of life of the people of Hawai`i. HSFCA funding is provided by the State of Hawai`i and the National Endowment for the Arts. The HSFCA is administratively attached to the Department of Accounting and General Services.

HOURS:
The musuem is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed State and Federal Holdays. Always free admission. For pre-recorded information call 586-0900.

The Hawai'i State Art Museum is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. For pre-recorded summary information on the museum, call (808) 586-0900. For current museum program information, call the HSFCA Art in Public Places Program at (808) 586-0305. To arrange an educational tour of the museum, call (808) 586-9958.


For information on the HSFCA; the Hawai'i State Art Museum; HSFCA grants, programs, and services; Hawai'i arts and culture events; and USA and worldwide arts opportunities, visit the HSFCA website, www.hawaii.gov/sfca.
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