Punahou Blues: A Hawaiian Novel - Paperback

by Kirby Wright (Author)

Growing up in Honolulu isn't all it's cracked up to be for Jeffrey Gill. After he gets into prestigious Punahou School, his rite of passage includes losing the babe of his dreams to a creep, surviving Killahaole Day, and getting pushed around by the school bully. In the world of academics, Jeff knows he's hardly Stanford material. Uncle Sharkey teaches Jeff the sweet science and he beefs his arch enemy at Waialae Golf Course. He salvages his senior year by getting into a mainland college and taking a foxy girl to the Senior Prom. But he must wait until graduation night to find out if the feelings he has for her are mutual.

Author Biography

KIRBY WRIGHT was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is a graduate of Punahou School in Honolulu and the University of California at San Diego. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. Wright has been nominated for five Pushcart Prizes and is a past recipient of the Honolulu Weekly Nonfiction Award, the Jodi Stutz Memorial Prize in Poetry, the Ann Fields Poetry Prize, the Academy of American Poets Award, the Robert Browning Award for Dramatic Monologue, and Arts Council Silicon Valley Fellowships in Poetry and The Novel. BEFORE THE CITY, his first poetry collection, took First Place at the 2003 San Diego Book Awards. Wright is also the author of the companion novels PUNAHOU BLUES and MOLOKA'I NUI AHINA, both set in Hawaii. He was a Visiting Fellow at the 2009 International Writers Conference in Hong Kong, where he represented the Pacific Rim region of Hawaii and lectured with Pulitzer Prize winner Gary Snyder. He was also a Visiting Writer at the 2010 Martha's Vineyard Residency in Edgartown, Mass., the 2011 Artist in Residence at Milkwood International, Czech Republic, the 2014 Resident Scholar at the Earthskin Artist Colony in New Zealand, and the 2015 Artist in Residence at the New York Mills Cultural Center in Minnesota. He has received two Certificate of Recognitions from the California State Assembly for his body of work. His futuristic thriller, THE END, MY FRIEND, and his second poetry collection, THE WIDOW FROM LAKE BLED, were both released in 2013. He was nominated an unprecedented three times in three different categories at the 2013 San Diego Book Awards. His third poetry collection, NOTES ABOVE WATER, was published in 2014 and his fourth, THE GIRL WITH THE GREEN VIOLIN, was published in 2015. The Secret Theatre produced HOUDINI, his play, at their 2016 One Act Festival in New York. Wright was also awarded a 2016 Eckerö Post and Customs House Artist Residency in Mariehamn, Finland. He is currently writing a full-length play and a coming of age memoir set in Hawaii. Chapters from his memoir have already appeared in US university reviews and literary magazines worldwide including 580 Split, Gold Man Review, Grain Magazine, Harpur Palate, Hawai'i Review, The Ilanot Review, J Journal, The Montreal Review, Moon City Review, New Madrid, The Owen Wister Review, Pisgah Review, Poydras Review, Revolution House, SNR Review, Southern Indiana Review, Southword Journal, Switchback, Tributaries, and Yemassee.