The HBMF 2021 Zoom webinars on this page have been edited for HIGHLIGHTS. The full-length LIVE versions, together with the Highlight versions, are available in the Better Tomorrow Speaker Series YouTube website. Look for the HBMF 2021 Highlights channel.
VIP PRESENTERS
In highlights from our full interview, IPCC lead author Kim Cobb answers the critical question: Is there still time to take action on climate change? Cobb also discusses the future of emissions, the changing nature of coral reefs, effective climate communication in a polarized political climate, and ways in which local communities and individuals can go all-in on climate action.
Growth economics have built the modern world. But is priming GDP expansion compatible with planetary limits and human well-being? Oxford economist Kate Raworth thinks not. She argues that we need a new economics for the 21st century, an economics that prioritizes health, sustainability, and wellness over endless growth. In conversation with UH professor Kamanamaikalani Beamer, she discovers how modern circular economics builds from ancestral Native Hawaiian practices of wealth creation, resource distribution, and environmental conservation.
US Sen Mazie Hirono's her riveting memoir of how a “good Japanese American girl” climbed out of desperate poverty and up the ranks of male-dominated local and national politics to become the major national political figure she is today.
"Lisa See has created an enthralling, compelling portrait of a unique culture and a turbulent time in history, but what's really remarkable about this novel is the characters—two women whose lifelong friendship is tested during impossibly difficult times." (Kristin Hannah)
The international best-seller on the extraordinary final days of the Trump Presidency, by Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.
One of the world’s leading climate scientists and a tireless advocate documents precisely the who, what, why and when of the systemic and deliberate campaign to undermine public confidence in climate science.
A wide-ranging conversation between National Book Award winner Charles Johnson and George Tanabe, Emeritus Professor of Religion.
The US Poet Laureate's celebration of indigenous poetry, joined by five Hawai'i poets.
AUTHORS
For Jane Marshall Goodsill, oral history is an art form, and she has managed to collar everybody who was anybody in the last half-century of Hawai’i, including legendary archivist Puakea Nogelmeier.
Chris McKinney is known for fiction that reveals the underside of Hawai’i, and now he dives even deeper in a bold breakout of imagination: a sci-fi story of Honolulu literally under water.
What would happen if Hawaii had not been interrupted? Solomon Enos' graphic vision of an alternative Polynesian universe.
Chamoru poet Craig Santos Perez responds to the threat of climate change.
Vernadette Vicuña Gonzalez follows the life of Filipina vaudeville and film actress Isabel Rosario Cooper, mistress of General Douglas MacArthur. Following Cooper from the Philippines to Washington, D.C. to Hollywood, where she died penniless, Gonzalez frames her not as a tragic heroine, but as someone caught within the violent histories of U.S. imperialism.
Two extraordinary Hawai‘i educators compare notes on Leadership in two vastly different educational realms. Jan Iwase celebrates her exemplary 45-year career as a public school teacher and principal, and Rusty Komori draws on his experience as Head Coach of the Punahou Boys Varsity Tennis Team that won 22 consecutive State Championships—the longest streak in the US in all sports.
David Louie served as Attorney General under Governor Neil Abercrombie. They compare notes on how they remember the 2008 Great Recession crisis and the crisis years that followed.
Sara Ackerman tells the little-known story of the RADAR GIRLS, the women who were recruited after Pearl Harbor to staff the Islands’ radar stations-- a captivating story of friendship, heartbreak and true love. Gregory Shepherd's RINGS OF FIRE is a stunning look behind the border walls of North Korea, for fans of Clancy, Brad Thor, and Vince Flynn.
A science nerd with a wild sense of humor describes her life and career as a medical researcher and university administrator.
In her 90s, feisty former Hawai‘i Republican Congresswoman Pat Saiki tells Civil Beat columnist Denby Fawcett how she made a difference in the lives of women, families and children.
Folk tale scholars challenge the popular perception of fairy tales as narratives offering heteronormative happy endings that support status-quo values.
The onset of World War II surprised the American public, but war with Japan arrived in Hawai‘i in slow motion. Responding to numerous signs of impending conflict, the Council for Interracial Unity mapped two goals: minimize internment and maximize inclusion in the war effort. Tom Coffman's book describes how it successfully thwarted FDR's demands for mass removal of Hawai'i's Japanese, changed Hawai'i, and changed America.
A composite chronicling of the Hawai‘i Japanese immigrant experience in mainland exile and internment during World War II, from pre-war climate to arrest to exile to return.
Scott Kikkawa broke out with his acclaimed first noir novel, Kona Winds, set in 1953 Honolulu, when the Big Five controlled the Territory. Red Dirt (Bamboo Ridge #120) has a backdrop this time of the 1951 “Hawai‘i Seven” trials, when Cold War fear fanned a Red Scare.
A special issue of Bamboo Ridge (#119) examines what it means to be living and growing up in contemporary Hawai‘i, with poetry and prose about the struggle to protect Mauna Kea, and reactions to the current pandemic.
It took a guerrilla operation by doctors via social media to force a vital change in Hawai'i's pandemic policy.
The author of the the graphic novel, "No One Else," and a classic illustrator, author of Manu: The Boy Who Loved Birds, " compare and discuss their approaches to storytelling.
"The Inside Story of the Greatest Corruption Case in Hawai‘i History" that led to the jailing of Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha and his wife Catherine, as told by the federal defender whose defense of their victim triggered the case that led to their downfall.
Paddling the Outrigger is at once a memoir and business tutorial, encompassing stories of Waikiki past, the Hawai‘i “Doc” Kelley experienced as a child, the history of Outrigger Hotels and the many people who built the state’s tourism industry, and a firsthand account of the development of Hawai‘i as a global top-tier tourism destination.
Following the guidance of H.H. the Dalai Lama, Marya and her husband Michael, and a monk from Nechung Monastery in India, made three journeys to Tibet in search of Nechung Rinpoche’s reincarnation.
Hilo-born Chef Sheldon Simeon won Fan Favorite twice in Bravo’s hit show, Top Chef. Sheldon went on to launch two restaurants featuring local fare, and to publish this best-selling cookbook.
HAWAIIAN CULTURE
Kahele Dukelow, The lifewriting strategies of the kiaʻi (protectors) who gathered at Puʻuhonua o Puʻuhuluhulu in the summer of 2019 to defend Maunakea against the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). With "Maunakea Sacred Mountain," a film by Meleanna Aluli Meyer and Tom Coffman.
The concept of Kahiki, both a symbol of ancestral connection and the potential that comes with remembering and acting upon that connection.
It is in Kahiki, and in the sanctuary it creates, that today’s Kānaka Maoli can find safety and reprieve from the continued onslaught of settler colonial violence while confronting some of the uncomfortable and challenging realities of being Indigenous in Hawaiʻi, in the Pacific, and in the world.
This third volume of Nānā i ke Kumu presents ancient and fundamental Hawaiian values and traditions associated with grieving and healing practices with the goal of addressing modern-day family conflicts, including drug addiction, abandonment, divorce, incarceration, and domestic violence. The authors have strived to represent the collective mana‘o of Tūtū Pukui and their respective kūpuna, and the individuals with whom they have worked for decades.
“With a fearless commitment to land-based love, Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio channels the multi-bodied powers of Hi‘iaka to cast an intimate yet expansive net of relating that reaches across geography, generation, and gender." (Ty Tengan)
As Kanaka Maoli and their allies stand as land and water protectors, Candace Fujikane calls for a profound attunement to elemental forms in order to transform climate events into renewed possibilities for planetary abundance.
"Detours" will forever change how readers think about and move throughout Hawai‘i.
SUSTAINABILITY
University panelists describe what they have experienced and learned about the contributions of UH Manoa to the people of Hawai‘i since the start of the pandemic, and how this will change the university and our community for years to come --- e.g., new relationships; new levels of trust; new knowledge and new technologies for our teaching, our research, and our community service.
Astronaut Lacey Veach said that “The place of navigators is Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i is the laboratory, Hawai‘i is the school, a model for the global island.” Now Hawai’i is one of the leaders with plans, research and data for meeting the goal of containing climate change in this generation.
Everyone agrees that our overtourism is overwhelming our resources. 10.5 million visitors in 2019 produced the same income for the state as 6.5 million did 10 years before. How to manage this?
Everyone says Hawai'i has to diversify from Tourism--but diversify to what? An economist, a global tech entrepreneur, an investor, and a remote-work planner describe the potential and the limitations.
The goal of constant growth leads to greater inequality—circular economics is a promising solution for Hawai‘i.
Honolulu is rated among the most liveable cities in the nation. From road safety to Transit -Oriented Development, these experts are responsible for maintaining and improving Honolulu's urban environment
The ongoing impact of Sea Level Rise is predictable, and involves complex issues of coastal zone planning, disaster preparedness, infrastructure adaptation, insurance, and climate justice.
The massive installed infrastructure that enables the world to operate on fossil energy involves major supply chains – exploration, production, transmission, refining and distribution. Three veteran industry insiders explain what has to be done to change this.
INNOVATION
The University of Hawai‘i’s Academy of Creative Media specializes in film and animation storytelling at the Manoa campus. In this showcase two animators and a filmmaker present their latest projects.
Academy for Creative Media - West O‘ahu students explain how they built a completely playable and original game from concept to production.
A Hawai‘i Mind to Market company creates disruptive global platform technologies in the fields of aerospace, energy, defense, AI, nanotechnology, health, and more.
A “perpetual motion“ energy machine powered by the sun -- a pumped storage hydropower project.
Nathaniel Harmon questions the physical realities of 100% renewable energy for Hawai‘i, and offers a radical win-win solution that uses our greatest resource, the deep ocean.
New Director Doug Simons' vision for Hawai'i astronomy, and David Sanders' Cosmos-Webb project.
Data is typically hoarded and siloed. Pandemic urgency has forced a new culture of transparency and sharing.
WELLNESS
Do we have a viable strategy for next time? Leading figures in Hawai'i's response to COVID-19 draw their conclusions.
Hawaii deploys appropriate expertise as called for in every situation.
The enforced isolation in the pandemic exacerbated every kind of stress and abuse.
Researchers at the University of Hawai‘i Cancer Center take advantage of the ethnic diversity in Hawai‘i to identify and clarify how different forms of cancer are associated with specific cultural, behavioral and genetic factors, leading to more sophisticated treatment.
When ICU’s fill up, "Crisis Standards of Care" govern triage decisions. What is the basis for the criteria used?
By the end of the next decade, Hawaiʻi will be the #1 state in terms of senior citizens as a percentage of its overall population -- in addition, we live longer than in any other state. How do we find out the best way to maintain health and well-being as we age?
PERFORMANCE
The Hawai‘i Book & Music Festival is proud to present Master slack-key artist Makana in concert from historic Kawaiaha‘o, the “Mother Church” of Hawai‘i. Go to HBMF.online to hear Makana’s voice and music soar in that great space.
UH Manoa Kennedy Theatre presented the sci-fi musical, Interstellar Cinderella, based on the children’s book by Deborah Underwood. Tyler Bogan (who both directs and acts the principal role) and some of her cast discuss how they prepared and are rehearsed the show.
The Honolulu Theatre for Youth, under artistic Director Eric Johnson, has taken advantage of the pandemic to pivot into digital drama. Celebrated actor and playwright Moses Goods developed a season of “Stories of Oceania,” featuring the cultural traditions that connect Hawai‘i with our Pacific neighbors.
A world-class photojournalist and keynote speaker , Dewitt Jones "Celebrates What’s Right with the World." As a motion picture director, he had two documentary films nominated for Academy Awards before he was thirty. He rose to the forefront of creative marketing with his photography for advertising campaigns for organizations such as Dewar’s Scotch, Canon, and United Airlines. Dewitt has published nine books including California! and John Muir’s High Sierra. He collaborated with Stephen R. Covey for his most recent book, The Nature of Leadership. Speaking to audiences across the country, Dewitt is recognized as a renowned lecturer. Dewitt graduated from Dartmouth College with a B.A. in drama and holds a Master’s Degree in filmmaking from the University of California at Los Angeles
.