Diverse topics will include modern and historic sailing

From the depths of Hawaiian history to the excitement of water sports and the imagination of some of the best writers in the English language, there will be plenty to enjoy at the Ninth Annual Hawaii Book and Music Festival.

A wide variety of panels and readings is scheduled for the free event, which takes place Saturday and May 4 on the Frank F. Fasi Civic Center grounds. Four stages will be devoted to author appearances and panel discussions, one will feature musical and hula performances, and two areas will be devoted to activities for children.

And just so you can keep track of what’s going on, the festival has an app for both Apple and Android devices, available through its website.

Hawaii Book and Music Festival executive director Roger Jellinek said he tries to make the presentations as dynamic as possible, and this year’s offerings look to fulfill that goal, with appearances by 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Adam Johnson; local author Kaui Hart Hemmings, whose second novel is due next month; and a trio of experts who will discuss the new edition of "Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen, Liliuokalani," the monarch’s plea for justice after the takeover of the islands.

Also appearing will be the America’s Cup, the famous sailing trophy that could be contested in Hawaii in 2017 if Lanai billionaire Larry Ellison has his way. The vaunted hardware will be here with Julian Guthrie, author of a book on the last several races.

"We’ve really evolved this into a Hawaii-focused thing," Jellinek said. "What we try and do is, even if there isn’t a book about Hawaiian culture, you try and bring writers (together), and you try and make a theater of ideas."

The festival attracted an estimated 30,000 people last year, he said, reflecting Hawaii’s voracious appetite for reading. "Five years ago the book business here was the most vigorous in the country," Jellinek said. The advent of digitalization, the recession and the downscaling of some large book dealers has reduced that, but that doesn’t mean people are reading less, he said.

The big-name events, headlined by Johnson, will take place in the Mission Memorial Auditorium. He will speak about his novel "The Orphan Master’s Son" (Random House, $26), which is set mostly in North Korea and is based on research Johnson did on North Korean gulags.

"I just didn’t know the gulag system was alive and well in the world today," he said. "I didn’t know that in North Korea the gulags are family gulags. You don’t go alone; you go with everyone, and you’re all erased from the face of the earth to labor in some camp without sentence or trial."

Another highlight will be the America’s Cup, representing the oldest competition in international sports. Bringing it will be Norbert Bajurin, commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, which, despite its mostly blue-collar membership, formed a relationship with Ellison to win the coveted prize. Guthrie, a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote about their relationship in a magazine article that later blossomed into her book "The Billionaire and the Mechanic" (Grove Press, $16), which encompasses everything from thrilling race scenes to descriptions of cutting-edge boat-making technology and the squabbles of sailing teamwork and international competition.

Ellison has stated his desire to bring the America’s Cup competition to Hawaii, but other cities are vying to host. Guthrie expects that at the very least, some of the preliminary races will be held here, since Ellison, a surfer as well as a world-class yachtsman, visits Hawaii frequently.

"I know that Larry, because of his love of Hawaii and Lanai in particular, and his respect for Gov. (Neil) Abercrombie, that they’ll bring something to Hawaii," she said.

Guthrie got to sale aboard Ellison’s cup-winning vessel, and her description is one that many ocean enthusiasts would appreciate.

"It was pure adrenaline, pure thrill, and it gave an appreciation for why they do what they do," she said. "I loved this whole confluence of all these things: the boat itself, the teamwork required, and Mother Nature, the waves and the wind and the challenges she throws your way."

Aside from Guthrie’s book, Hawaii’s ocean lovers also may be interested in two surfing books and a presentation on the Hokule‘a and its upcoming worldwide voyage.

Hawaiian history is not being short-changed, with new perspectives from academics, journalists and cultural experts. One of the most notable offerings is historian David Forbes’ new annotated version of "Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen Liliuokalani" (Hui Hanai, $35). The book, designed by Barbara Pope, contains the original text, corrected for typos and misspellings, lengthy footnotes and several previously unpublished photos. Forbes’ introduction addresses the circumstances surrounding its creation and publication, including a controversial section deleted from the original book.

Corinne Chun Fujimoto, curator of the queen’s former home, Washington Place, will discuss the book, along with Hawaiian culture experts Manu and Tommy Boyd. She was especially taken with the photographs, which include little-known portraits of Lili‘uokalani’s nurses and parents, and the monarch as a young girl.

"It’s bringing people to life from the time," she said. "We read these names over and over again not only in the queen’s book, but in other books, but having the visual is so exciting."

"It’s significant because it’s not just the queen’s story," she said. "This is Hawaii’s story; this is the story of the people."

The development of Hawaiian governance gets a new look in University of Hawaii professor Kamana Beamer’s "No Makou ka Mana: Liberating the Nation" (Kamehameha Publishing, $30). He will discuss how the Hawaiian monarchy took Western concepts and adapted them to Hawaii. Land ownership under Hawaiian law, for example, was based on the idea of private ownership in the West but included some "socialistic" aspects as well.

"You had people who owned larger parcels within a larger ahupuaa that would have been loaned by a chief, but these people still had rights to resources outside of the square footage of their property," he said. "They would still have rights to the fisheries, to go into the forests and gather wood.

"Hawaiians were truly making laws that were in line with custom and tradition, not entirely Hawaiian and not entirely European. It was something brand new."

Blending history with fiction is David Eyre’s new book, "Kamehameha: The Rise of the King" (Kamehameha Publishing, $12). The longtime educator at Kamehameha Schools targeted young readers in his historical novel, imagining details such what Kamehameha was like as a toddler or a young boy.

"He was a young chief, and he was looked after and was hidden away, but what was he like as a person?" Eyre said. "I had to be careful to get all the cultural aspects about pre-contact Hawaii right."

The author relied heavily on Hawaiian-language newspapers and native speakers to develop his account of the king’s life. "There’s a resource base that is richer than in the past," said Eyre, who worked on the book for more than 20 years.

Other general themes that appear in the festival’s offering are local fiction, contemporary culture and poetry. Several Hawaii-based authors who wrote about books unrelated to Hawaii also will be on hand.

For children, Jellinek was especially enthusiastic about the multiple appearances by Mr. Steve, who has a morning show on PBS Kids. Other offerings aimed at children include "Eddie Wen Go: The Story of the Upside-Down Canoe" (Watermark Press, $18), an imagining by Marion Lyman-Mersereau of what ocean creatures saw when the voyaging canoe capsized and crew member Eddie Aikau went for help, and storytelling sessions by Jeff Gere.

The music end of the Hawaii Book and Music Festival is an equal match to the stellar literary offerings. Performers include many of the top halau from the just-concluded Merrie Monarch Festival.

BOOKMARK IT
Can’t decide which of the dozens of programs to attend at the Ninth Annual Hawaii Book and Music Festival? Here are some suggestions based on particular interests. The festival takes place 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and May 4 on the Frank F. Fasi Civic Center grounds. Free parking is available in the underground parking structure at the Honolulu Hale municipal lot, with entrances on Alapai and Beretania streets. For a full schedule and background on the authors and presenters, visit hawaiibookandmusicfestival.com.

HEADLINERS
Mission Memorial Auditorium
» Saturday: "The Billionaire and the Mechanic," Julian Guthrie, 10 a.m.; "The Orphan Master’s Son," Adam Johnson, 2:15 p.m.
» May 4: "The Possibilities," Kaui Hart Hemmings, 2:15 p.m.; "Ade: A Love Story," Rebecca Walker, 3:30 p.m.

PRESENTATIONS
Find these presentations at the Authors Pavilion Makai and Mauka, and the Alana Hawaiian Culture Pavilion:

HAWAIIAN HISTORY
» Saturday: "Sovereign Sugar: Industry and Environment in Hawaii," Carol MacLennan, 2 p.m.; "Kua Aina Kahiko: Life and Land in Ancient Kahikinui, Maui," Patrick Vinton Kirch, 2 p.m.; "Ka Leo Kanaka: Voice of the People," Patrick Makuakane, Puakea Nogelmeier, Kaui Sai-Dudoit, 4 p.m.
» May 4: "No Makou ka Mana: Liberating the Nation," Kamana Beamer, 11 a.m.; "Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen Liliuokalani," Corinne Chun Fujimoto, Manu Boyd and Tommy Boyd,
1 p.m.; "How Hawaii Changed America," Tom Coffman, 3 p.m.

ON THE WATER
» Saturday: "The Billionaire and the Mechanic"; "Hokulea and the World Wide Voyage," Sam Low and Kaiulani Murphy, 1 p.m.; "Surfing places, Surfboard makers," Andrew Warren, Chris Gibson and board shapers Ben Aipa, Jeff Bushman and Tom "Pohaku" Stone, 3 p.m.; "Surfing About Music," Tim Cooley, 4 p.m.

LOCAL FICTION
» Saturday: "Kamehameha: The Rise of a King," David Eyre, Brook Parker and Winona Farias, 10 a.m.; "Mystery in Paradise," G.M. Baugniet and others, 3 p.m.
» May 4: "Sunset Inn: Tales From the North Shore," Carol Catanzariti, Michael Little and Sally Sorenson, 1 p.m.; "Brothers Under the Same Sky," Gary Pak, 3 p.m.

CONTEMPORARY CULTURE
» Saturday: "’Io Lani: The Hawaiian Hawk," William S. Chillingworth, noon
» May 4: "The Red-Headed Hawaiian," Chris McKinney and Rudy Puana, 10 a.m.; "Maui and Kauai Hippies in Paradise," Jill Engledow and John Wehrheim, 11 a.m.; "The Society of Seven: The Last of the Great Show Bands," Frances Kirk, John Berger, Brickwood Galuteria, 2 p.m.; "Hawai’i Manga," Brady Evans, Stacey T. Hayashi, Jon Murakami, 4 p.m.; "Local Story," John Rosa, 4 p.m.

POETRY
» May 4: "Squid Out of Water," Daren Kamali with others, 10 a.m.; "Beyond Green Tea and Grapefruit," Gail Harada, noon; "The Tinfish Collection," several writers, 2 p.m.

FOR WRITERS
» Saturday: "Writing the Hawaiian Memoir," Darien Gee, 10 a.m.; "Sin and Syntax," Constance Hale, 11 a.m.
» May 4: "Hawaiian History: The Indispensable Resources," Jon Osorio, moderator, 3 p.m.