Kawai Strong Washburn

Kawai Strong Washburn is a literary fiction author from Hawaii whose work has been featured in “Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading,” “McSweeney’s,” and “Best American Nonrequired Reading” among many other outlets. Washburn was born on the Hamakua Coast on Hawaii’s Big Island and was the Bread Loaf Work-Study scholar in 2015 and a Tin House Summer Scholar in 2015. He was born on the Hamakua Coast, in the small town of Honoka’a and lived there until his teenage years when he moved to Portland on the mainland. Washburn has asserted that life in Hawaii was incredibly formative and enriching, as it was so much different from anything he has ever experienced since then. With its hundreds of nationalities and ethnicities, and a strong mix of traditions and cultural references, it has been a significant influence in his writing. Growing up, he was exposed to all manner of folklore and myths from many sources whether it was the things they learned in Hawaiian studies in school or the stories they would tell each other as kids on the playing ground. These influences would provide a mishmash of superstitions, legends, and stories that he would incorporate in his debut novel “Sharks in the Time of Saviors.”