Don Wallace

New York

Contributing Editor at Honolulu Magazine

Freelance Writer and Editor at Freelance

Editor and Founder at The Hawai'i Review of Books

editor @HIReviewofBooks Hawaii Review of Books Contrib ed Honolulu Mag THE FRENCH HOUSE, ONE GREAT GAME, doc THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE etc. Open for business

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Articles

2024 HONOLULU Book Awards

3 weeks ago | honolulumagazine.com | Don Wallace

Once again, as with last year’s inaugural HONOLULU Book Awards, our local writers outdid themselves. As we stood in the powerful shore break of their words, we were swept away by so many good books about or from our world here in the Pacific. What followed for me was two months of reading and another of interviewing and writing. And it was great. This was Hawai‘i at its newest and best. What we discovered? Hilo. Three of our award-winning books gestated, one literally, in Hilo or in its backcountry.
Winning the Bronze

Oct 31, 2024 | honolulumagazine.com | Don Wallace

In March 2023, my wife Mindy and I appeared before the Hawai‘i Historic Places Review Board, she in an orange mu‘umu‘u, me in a seafoam green aloha shirt, both bought at Liberty House in 1950 by her grandmother. We were an hour late—what townies know their way around Kapolei?—but were graciously forgiven by Alan Downer and other members of the group’s review board. Soon, a photo of our Hibiscus Drive home appeared on the screen.
9 Tips to Avoid a Shark Attack in Hawai‘i

Jul 30, 2024 | honolulumagazine.com | Don Wallace

Here’s how to stay safe while you enjoy the beautiful blue Pacific. Editor’s Note: We’re bringing back this story from our February 2016 issue to share these still relevant tips on how to avoid a shark attack in Hawaiian waters. We asked the experts for tips on staying clear of sharks. Warning: No guarantees!1. Swim, surf and dive with other people, and stay together. 2. Stay out of the water at dawn, dusk and night when sharks move inshore to feed.
The Conversation: Local authors; Slipper-lending library

Jun 4, 2024 | hawaiipublicradio.org | Bytemarks Cafe |Catherine Cruz |Don Wallace

Audio will be added after the show. The Conversation airs weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon on HPR-1. HPR reporter Ashley Mizuo takes a closer look at the opioid settlement fundsHonolulu Magazine contributing editor Don Wallace on celebrating local authors and literature | FestPAC literary events |One of those authors, Chris McKinney, talks about winning "Author of the Year" at the Honolulu Book Awards for his latest trilogyTake a slipper, leave a slipper.
Our Thriving Literary Scene

Mar 31, 2024 | honolulumagazine.com | Diane Seo |Don Wallace

With this issue, we’re launching the inaugural HONOLULU Book Awards. Our magazine has long championed Hawai‘i’s writers and books, but we’ve never formally honored the year’s best writing. It’s time. Hawai‘i writers are publishing all kinds of books and being recognized nationally. Whether in fiction, nonfiction or poetry, the stories are rich and reflective of who we are and how we live.
Low-Key Hawaii: Where to Find Honolulu’s Quieter Side-Far From the Big Resorts

Mar 7, 2024 | wsj.com | Don Wallace

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2023 Was Hawai‘i’s Breakout Book Year

Dec 31, 2023 | hawaiireviewofbooks.com | Don Wallace

It was a long time coming, this moment. Fact is, there’s never been a year remotely like it for Hawai‘i, in terms of books. Local authors published by mainstream houses or a big indie gave us four strong novels, a shockingly good story collection, and an acute Hawaiian diaspora memoir. Previously, a good year was a book by Susanna Moore, Kiana Davenport or Lois-Ann Yamanaka—and there were many years without any.
Hawai‘i’s Soul Is at Risk

Nov 30, 2023 | honolulumagazine.com | Don Wallace

ONCE, not long ago, what made Hawai‘i special were stories, songs, an impromptu hula, but especially compassion and unity. Our Hawai‘i soul was a source of pride and made us stronger. But then life took a turn. It’s never a good sign when your big shocks are proper nouns: Rail, Maunakea, Kealohas, Red Hill. And then Lahaina. After so many violations of our land, water and trust, and the misdirection of financial resources into a rail system to nowhere, nothing feels the same.
Soul on Tap: Cultural Resources of Hawai‘i

Nov 30, 2023 | honolulumagazine.com | Don Wallace

Hawai‘i’s spirit can be found, and accessed more easily than ever, in our cultural repositories. Here are some resources. “Our collections are simply vessels for incredible stories of Hawai‘i and the Pacific. We hand down our stories about this place and our place in it,” Dee Jay Mailer, the museum’s president and CEO, says. “When you enter the front gallery, you see glorious pieces of arts and crafts, finely woven, carved, painted or feathered kāhili standing 10 feet tall.
McKinney’s Timeline for Human Devolution

Nov 28, 2023 | hawaiireviewofbooks.com | Don Wallace

After reading Water City Trilogy, a sci-fi triptych out of Hieronymus Bosch, you may never look at your phone the same way again. A powerful parable about the illusion of free will and the poison of ego couched in a fast-paced, wisecrack-filled detective story, the novels jolly you along the road to environmental and technological disaster. It’s a swell ride, exhilarating, the prose crackling. Time and again, though, Chris McKinney is waiting around the corner to stick you with a shiv.