Kona Stories Words and Wine Event to Feature 3 Authors

Join local authors for the monthly Words and Wine Event on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019, hosted by Kona Stories Book Shop. The event is free to the public and offers a chance for you to meet and greet some of Hawai‘i’s favorite authors and artists while you enjoy complimentary pūpū and wine.

October’s featured authors are Duncan Dempster, Benjamin Cohn and Shay Bintliff.

Duncan Dempster. Courtesy photo

Dempster is a freelance writer who, having spent the major part of a lifetime employing words and language as a matter of vocational expedience, has discovered late in life the joys and challenges of juggling words and ideas in a purely avocational mode. A retired career Naval officer, and later a bank property manager and internet service technician, he is now fully retired in the institutional sense and totally immersed in his newfound career of developing his dream retirement on the Big Island of Hawai‘i.

Dempster’s new book, Where Are You?, is a sequel to the novel Chapel on the Moor, which follows the lives of the two main protagonists a half-century later in a quest to discover what, if anything, might remain of the chapel.

Ben Cohn. Courtesy photo

Cohn, author of The Depth Of Synchronicity, builds on Jung’s foundational concept, adding scientific explanations to his personal subjective experience in an engaging discussion regarding the greater spiritual consciousness that generates synchronicity. Cohn weaves in his wild personal tale in which he follows synchronicity like a path, conveying the existence of a subtle force connected to the body and mind.

Shay Bintliff. Courtesy photo

Bintliff grew up in a male-oriented family in Texas. As a child, she felt shushed when she tried to speak, which she believed was because she was female and too short. Her love of poetry began as a teenager, when her favorite aunt gave her an Elizabeth Barrett Browning poetry book and told her to “Find your voice in writing!” As a young adult, she was determined to be a physician, so her energy and focus shifted to getting into medical school. Dr. Bintiliff graduated from University of Washington in Seattle in a class of 76 physicians—she was the only female. Dr. Bintliff returned to Hawai‘i and practiced medicine throughout the islands, including Moloka‘i and Lāna‘i. She specialized in both pediatric birth defects and emergency medicine. Three years ago at age 80, she retired and devotes herself to paddling, working on her Sandalwood farm and writing poetry. Dr. Bintliff says she writes for herself now, waiting on inspiration from emotions and rainbows—and the words just come. Soular Rainbows a collection of poems devoted to nature, love and passion.

This 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.