When Malia Maunakea moved to Colorado from Hawaiʻi for college to become an engineer, she had no idea she’d end up staying there and becoming an author instead.
“I kind of engineered my first books because I didn’t know how to write a book,” she told Aloha State Daily. “I read all the books that I wanted my book to be like, and I just looked for patterns and mapped it out.”
Maunakea’s first job out of college was with a transportation planning firm in Boulder, Colorado, which worked on projects in Hawaiʻi, she said, adding, they spoke to her senior year transportation engineering class.
“I basically cornered them after class and was like, ʻLook, I have no idea what transportation planning is, but I can pronounce all the street names and you can say you have a Hawaiian in your company if you hire me,ʻ” she said. “They did hire me and it was awesome. I got to go home a bunch.”
Born on Hawaiʻi Island, Maunakea and her family moved to Oʻahu when she started seventh grade at Kamehameha Schools.
She recalled being teased “relentlessly” for her last name, but said with a laugh, “It worked out and now I’m putting it to use.”
It wasn't until later that she got into writing full-time, inspired by her then-11-year-old son’s interest in the “Percy Jackson & the Olympians” fantasy novel series.
“We live in Colorado now, and I wanted him to learn about the stories (moʻolelo) that I learned growing up, but I couldn't find any books at all (other than textbooks). Nothing fun that would catch his attention at that [age]. So, that's why I tried writing,” she explained.
Come May 5, the author of “Lei and the Fire Goddess” and “Lei and the Invisible Island” is set to release “The Shark Prince,” a story of Nohea, an adolescent who is half-human, half-shark, navigating getting priced out of paradise, readying for a surf competition, and making friends at a new school.
“It’s kind of two separate worlds, so the Lei and the Legends series were heavily based on my childhood: I was born and lived in Volcano for my first few years and then moved to Hilo. I remember our living room glowing when Kīluea was erupting and Pele was so very prevalent … all those legends are in there. And then in ‘Lei and the Invisible Island,’ they come to Oʻahu,” Maunakea said.
When asked how she made the legends in her stories more friendly for young readers, she added: “I read a ton and learned how authors adapted their stories in a whole new way because coming from Hawaiʻi, I was terrified to misrepresent anything, overstep my bounds and offend anyone. That was the reasoning behind making my main character be from the continent and having her come home to visit for a few weeks every summer to learn her culture.”
She also earned an associate’s degree in Hawaiian Studies from Windward Community College a couple years ago.
Maunakea said mentors Allen Gratz and Andria Wang helped the Lei series come to life, as well as support from Elizabeth Lee, senior editor, at Penguin Publishing Group, among others.
“The Shark Prince” is “the brainchild of going and meeting with kids on the west side” of Oʻahu during a previous book tour, she said.
“I was able to do a cover reveal of ʻLei in the Invisible Islandʻ and all the kids saw that shark on it and got so excited. … I was like, well, I need to remember that for my next book, which is where I dive deeper into the legend of Nanaue.”
Looking ahead
Maunakea is excited about what’s next, she noted.
Lots of travel is involved with the launch of “The Shark Prince,” now available for pre-order. Campaign note: Penguin will donate up to 500 copies to Hawaiʻi Literacy, a local nonprofit that provides free reading and writing programs.
“I am offering free virtual visits to any school that can help get the word out about pre-orders and free in-person visits if schools purchase class sets (30 or more books). Again, all of those pre-orders get free books donated to Hawaiʻi Literacy. … This is my first time in the Pacific Northwest and in California, so I'm really excited that these stories might be starting to find their homes.
“I think it'll resonate with Native Hawaiians or people from Hawaiʻi or anybody that might want to learn about Hawaiʻi. It's for anyone,” she continued. “In New York, the kids’ feedback to me was that they didn't really know their own culture and the books inspired them to look deeper into their own family stories and where their parents are from and where their grandparents are from.”
Currently, she is working on securing funding sources to help offset travel this year to the Neighbor Islands to promote her new book. Maunakea plans to visit Oʻahu in October. Stay updated on upcoming events here.
“We'd love to eventually touch on legends from all the Islands, but we'll see where that goes,” she said.
In Colorado, she volunteers as a cultural advisor at a school that sends kids to Hawaiʻi and enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband and two kids. Her first-ever book release was the non-fiction how-to “Backpacking with Children.”
Besides reading primarily middle grade books in her free time, Maunakea “likes romance as a palate cleanser.” Her favorite foods from Hawaiʻi are shave ice and “li hing mui everything.”
She teased that she’s working on a Young Adult book next, set during the Hawaiian Kingdom.
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Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros can be reached at kelsey@alohastatedaily.com.
