© 2024 Hawaiʻi Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The Hawai'i Review of Books: Content With Style

The Hawai'i Review of Books

The Hawai'i Review of Books, or THROB, comes on strong.

Vanishing beach glass in Hanapepe is a top story now. Can anyone find an intact shell on Oʻahu? Also, federal agent Scott Kikkawa updates Hawai'i's meth epidemic for THROB in The Iceman Cometh.

THROB is not selling island living.

Hawai'i Review of Books

"We opened our first iteration with New York City at night," says Don Wallace, THROB's founder and editor. "A dazzling photo of the lights in the East River, pitch black. You will live through the pandemic at its epicenter."

That opening piece is a gripping account by perhaps Hawai'i's most influential living novelist, 85-year-old Kiana Davenport. It's an example of THROB's multifaceted Hawai'i perspective.

Wallace married Hawai'i writer Mindy Penneybacker in 1976, they moved to Hawai'i in 2009. Both graduates of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Wallace has written for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Harpers, Time Inc., The Surfer's Journal, and more. He's authored four books, also one about Hawai'i.

"I wrote it and that was one thing that gave me the impetus to do THROB, was I said, I don't want to read another book by some guy from the mainland about Hawai'i. I want to help Hawai'i writers."

Wallace has been writing and editing actively in Hawai'i's literary scene. He's reviewed more than 150 books in Hawai'i since 2010.

Wallace won the Loretta Petrie Award for outstanding service to Hawaii's literary community last year, and launched THROB in May 2021. He edited local author Chris McKinney's novel, "Boi No Good."

"And it helps," says McKinney. "What he tells you makes what you write better. That's really all you can ask from an editor and he's a really good one."

"I asked Chris to send me his best students," continues Wallace, "And I would say to anyone listening to this, if you are a teacher and you've got talented people, send them to THROB. Let's grow the team."

Until recently, Wallace was Senior Editor with Honolulu Magazine, he continues as Contributing Editor. He's been inside the publishing business and has experience with startups. He's worked for five of them, including Fast Company, as both features and literary editor.

"There are things called advertisers and there are things called sponsors," notes Wallace. "No matter how you try to have a church and state between the writer and publisher, you will be policed. I think THROB, being non-commercial, all we ask is that you be good and that you write to the top of your register."

"This is, for a lot of writers, something they've never done before."

What about that question of quality?

Noe Tanigawa
Don Wallace with partner/writer Mindy Pennybacker, former Editor of the Honolulu Weekly.

"Yes, I will say there are guardrails, I'm an editor," says Wallace. "And another thing is, we're not Twitter. There are a lot of people who want to do stuff, and I'm saying, yeah! Do stuff."

"Couple of people came in and they had very specific targets they wanted to expose and we don't do hit jobs. Open it to include the whole landscape of that problem, and include the whole population, all the players. That's a really ambitious piece that we would love to see."

Wallace continues, "If you're a writer and you have things to say you've never been able to say, this is a great opportunity to take it as far as you can."

By its own declaration, The Hawai'i Review of Books, THROB, is looking for literate, lively writing that is both topical and insightful.

"We're pretty independent," says Wallace, "That is my goal, a lot of voices, a lot of subject matter, and stories that are a lot deeper than people are used to."

THROB is certainly good-looking, under Creative Director James Charisma.

The Hawai'i Review of Books, THROB, could be a place thinking people congregate for pleasure.

Wallace also spoke with HPR's Noe Tanigawa on The Aloha Friday Conversation on July 2, 2021.

Writer and editor Don Wallace - July 2, 2021
The Aloha Friday Conversation

Noe Tanigawa covered art, culture and ideas for two decades at Hawaiʻi Public Radio.
Related Stories