Words and Wine Event at Kona Stories Book Shop

October’s Words and Wine Event will take place on Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. at the Kona Stories Book Shop.

Have the chance to meet and greet with some of Kona’s favorite authors during the free event while enjoying complimentary pupu’s and wine.

October’s featured authors are Mike Malaghan, Marie Alonzo Snyder and Jane Lasswell Hoff.

Mike Malaghan

Debut novelist Mike Malaghan has turned his passion for history into the sweeping epic Picture Bride, newly released by Legacy Isle Publishing.

Meet and greet with Mike Malaghan, author of Picture Bride. Photo Courtesy.

Malaghan’s gripping 500-page saga follows Haru, a young peasant girl in turn-of-the-century Japan, from the temples of Kyushu to the sugar plantations of Territorial Hawai‘i.

Betrayed by her best friend, she seeks refuge in an arranged marriage to a Buddhist priest in the far-off Hawaiian Islands, only to find herself with a husband who doesn’t want her, living among a white population distrustful of Japanese immigrants.

Haru, portrayed as a woman of silk and steel, soon emerges as a strong-minded community leader, a teacher and an insightful go-between who recognizes the looming threats to her family and friends.

Having once pledged to produce sons to fight for the emperor, she dedicates herself to raising American children loyal to the Stars and Stripes.

Absorbing and thoroughly researched, Picture Bride is the story of Hawai‘i’s Japanese immigrants, who survived—and thrived—against great odds.

Following a decades-long career as a businessman in Asia, Malaghan found inspiration in The First Battle, a 2006 film about a group of multi-ethnic civilian and military leaders who monitored race relations in Hawai‘i during World War II and lent support to the Japanese community.

Mike Malaghan’s Picture Bride book cover. Photo Courtesy.

“Only 2,000 of Hawai‘i’s 140,000 Japanese were imprisoned or interned,” Malaghan says, “rather than all of them as in California—but why? I knew that was my story. Originally, I began the novel the day Pearl Harbor was bombed, with the idea of following the young men of the famous Nisei 442nd Regiment. But I soon began asking, ‘Where did these exceptional men come from? Who were these amazing parents, these exceptional women who raised families to believe in the American dream?’ I wrote Picture Bride and created the character of Haru to reveal who they were and how they never gave up, regardless of the barriers they had to face.”

Populating his novel with fictionalized versions of actual historical figures, as well as characters of his own invention often inspired by real people, Malaghan drew from newspaper archives, personal interviews and trips to each location featured in this ten-year labor of love.

He is currently at work on a sequel, A Question of Loyalty, which chronicles the twenty-one Nisei Medal of Honor recipients.

Marie Alonzo Snyder

Marie Alonzo Snyder is the founder and artistic director of Zouk HI, Tangerine Dance Collective, a NY Times acclaimed dancer and choreographer, as well as international scholar, author and educator.

She earned her BFA and MFA in dance at NYU and her Doctorate in Education from Columbia University.

Author Marie Snyder wrote The Art and Sensuality of Brazilian Zouk, it is the first book about Zouk to be published in the US. Photo Courtesy.

Snyder is a founding member of the West Windsor Arts Council, co-founder of the “I’ll have what she’s having…” Dance Project, the NJ and HI pioneer in Dance for Parkinson’s for which she is a Dance for PD® Westheimer Fellow and she has been a leader for Zouk Dance in Wheelchair.

She has been dancing Zouk since 2011, is a certified ZoukNY instructor and performed with Jeremey Adam Rey’s rawZouk.

She is happy to have moved and found a new home in Hawai’i where she teaches Zouk in Kona, Holualoa, Waimea, Captain Cook , Kealakekua and UH Hilo.

Snyder also offered the first Zouk HI, Intensive Teacher Training course focused on Zouk Fundamentals.

She is on staff in Zoukology and has written four articles on different aspects of Zouk.

The Art and Sensuality of Brazilian Zouk is the first book on Zouk published in the U.S.

In her book, Snyder provides a historical context and cultural perspective. It is done by discussing the dance genre’s influences and adaptations and then going into technical descriptions of the basic rhythmic and choreographic concepts of the form.

Additionally, she articulates the influences of Duncan, Graham, Limon and Hawkins adding her personal and philosophical connection to Zouk.

She ends each chapter with a question and answer section which is welcoming for the novice providing advice and the ins and outs of Zouk.

She also includes links to many other resources for finding out more about Zouk. Her book is a wonderful introduction to the dance form.

Jane Lasswell Hoff

Jane Lasswell Hoff is a professional forensic anthropologist, a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and a lecturer in anthropology.

Jane Hoff, author of Bones in Paradise will be in attendance at the monthly Words and Wine event. Photo Courtesy.

She has worked throughout the U.S. for tribal groups, police departments, medical examiners’ offices and for the U.S. Army, identifying and recovering human remains.

She was born in Hollywood, Ca., and spent most of her childhood in southern California. She attended UH Mānoa, and the University of Oregon.

She is widowed and lives and works in Hilo.

Bones of Paradise is her first novel and is part of an intended series of Big Island Mysteries.

Even in paradise, people do die. And it’s the job of Mimi Charles, Forensic Anthropologist, to analyze the bodies that aren’t found right away – skeletons, mostly.

Mimi and her colleagues at the Medical Examiner’s office are a tightly-knit team that relishes solving the mysteries presented by each case.

But outside of the office, their lives in the sweet little town of Hilo, Hawai’i, flow in a gentle island rhythm.

None of them is prepared for the disappearance of one of their own, right from the building where they work (or the parking lot outside, anyway).

Soon a series of notes begins to arrive, supposedly from the missing person.

Even though the FBI shows up to join the local police in the search for clues, Mimi and her friends can’t resist doing a little “digging” of their own.

Bones of Paradise book cover, written by Jane Hoff.
Photo Courtesy.

Suddenly, there’s a very pesky TV reporter calling Mimi at home and peeking out at her from behind potted plants. And then John, the Death Investigator who works with Mimi, begins to act strangely.

Despite the distractions, Mimi begins to piece together odd, seemingly unrelated bits of information in the race to find her missing friend, and she sincerely hopes that she’s not too late.

The Words and Wine event starts at 6 p.m. with an informal meet and greet merging into a more formal book presentation from each author and concluding around 8 p.m. after a Q&A session.

Dress is casual aloha wear. Kona Stories is located in the Keauhou Shopping Center, for more information call Brenda or Joy at 808-324-0350.