OUR OPINION
Bamboo Ridge richly cultivates isle literature
THE ISSUE
The publisher is marking its 30th year of producing magazines and books that reflect local perspectives.
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Bamboo Ridge Press has much to celebrate as the local publisher marks 30 years since its founding. From black-and-white covers and paste-up pages stapled by hand to its current clean, modern format, its publications have delivered the voices of scores of writers from Hawaii and elsewhere, providing readers worldwide with points of views they otherwise would not have received.
It has introduced such notable authors as Lois-Ann Yamanaka and Nora Okja Keller to wider audiences and continues to cultivate new artists and writers of short stories, poetry and novels.
More than 850 creative people have seen their works presented by one of the longest-running noncommercial presses in the nation. Bamboo Ridge is among just a handful of small presses successfully operating without affiliation with a college or university.
In 1978, founders and editors Darrell Lum and Eric Chock saw a need for Hawaii-relevant literature not only to express a local sensibility, but to attract young people to the pleasure and reward of reading and writing.
Initially issuing a magazine, the press began putting out books in 1982 when Chock and Lum realized many writers were working on novels.
Its publications have been included in high school and university courses across the country and its works translated into several languages. Many of the works also have been adapted for performances on stage, radio and television.
In a era of leisure dominated by technological marvels, Bamboo Ridge holds out with literary longevity and distinction. Congratulations are well deserved.
Oahu Publications, Inc. publishes
the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, MidWeek
and military newspapers
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
David Black, Dan Case, Dennis Francis,
Larry Johnson, Duane Kurisu, Warren Luke,
Colbert Matsumoto, Jeffrey Watanabe, Michael Wo
HONOLULU STAR-BULLETIN
Mary Poole, Editorial Page Editor
(808) 529-4748;
mpoole@starbulletin.com
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (USPS 249460) is published daily by Oahu Publications at 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813. Periodicals postage paid at Honolulu, Hawaii. Postmaster: Send address changes to Star-Bulletin, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802.