The Hawaiʻi State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities, and Hawaiʻi State Public Library System are pleased to announce the selection of Lee A. Tonouchi as the new Poet Laureate of Hawaiʻi.
The Hawaiʻi Poet Laureate program promotes and encourages appreciation of poetry and literary life in Hawaiʻi and the poetry community while inspiring new writers from all walks of life. Nominations to the three-year program are open to Hawaiʻi poets with significant accomplishments in writing and in engaging the community. The selected poet receives an annual grant from State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA) to carry out readings and workshops across the islands. Lee Tonouchi will serve from February 2026 through February 2029. He joins the ranks of Hawaiʻi Poet Laureates Kealoha Wong and Brandy Nālani McDougall.
A graduate of ʻAiea High School and University of Hawaiʻi-Mānoa, Lee Tonouchi is widely known as “Da Pidgin Guerrilla” for his passionate advocacy of Pidgin as a legitimate and powerful language for creative and academic expression. In 1999, he founded the literary magazine “Hybolics”, which created a space for stories about Pidgin and other aspects of local culture. He has taught at Kapi‘olani Community College and Hawai‘i Pacific University, where he designed and developed the first college-level course solely devoted to Pidgin literature. In 2023, the American Association for Applied Linguistics awarded Tonouchi the 2023 Distinguished Public Service Award for his work in raising public awareness of important language-related issues and promoting linguistic social justice.
As an editor and publisher, Tonouchi has been highly active in Hawaiʻi’s literary landscape from the 1990s until the present. He is well-known for not just writing, but giving back—as a guest speaker at hundreds of college, high school, intermediate, and elementary classrooms, as an organizer of literary readings and events featuring other writers, as an interviewer or editor drawing out the beauty of someone else’s story. He has dedicated his career to uplifting local voices, and making space for cultures and stories not being heard.
Tonouchi’s writing explores themes of family, identity, culture, and community, and often uses humor to connect and explore more difficult topics. His most recent work includes the book of poems “Significant Moments in da Life of Oriental Faddah and Son: One Hawai‘i Okinawan Journal” (Bess Press, 2011), which won the Association for Asian-American Studies Book Award; the children’s picture book “Okinawan Princess: Da Legend of Hajichi Tattoos” (Bess Press, 2019), which won the Skipping Stones Honor Award; the edited anthology “Chiburu: Anthology of Hawai‘i Okinawan Literature” (Bess Press, 2023); and the play “Two Nails, One Love” now currently showing at Kumu Kahua Theatre.
The selection was made by a volunteer panel of writers, publishers, educators, public programmers, and librarians representing communities from various islands.
State Librarian Stacey Aldrich shared: “The selection process was really difficult, which is a tribute to the strength of our local literary community and the many accomplished writers we have in Hawaiʻi. In the end, our panel felt we need a Poet Laureate who can encourage many people to feel empowered to share their voice and story, even those who think they don’t like writing or were told they can’t write. In today’s uncertain and divided society, poetry can help to heal and strengthen our community.”
Tonouchi shares his hopes for the Poet Laureate term: “B-U. Das my vision. I stay looking forward to serving da community as Hawai‘i’s Poet Laureate. For da past chree decades it’s been my mission to show Local people that dey should be proud of their Pidgin. Through da technique of talk story, I believe everybody can find their poetic voice. I see my role as being able for empower people, for give ’em da tools dey need for be writers demselves so dey can represent their own communities and life experiences. Da goal is for have one greater diversity of voices as part of Hawai‘i’s Local literature. No sked for B-U.”
For more about upcoming Hawai‘i Poet Laureate programming and events, visit HiHumanities.org/hpl/ and follow Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities on social media @HiHumanities.