Young adult author Lurline McGregor reveals the inspiration behind writing her novel, Between the Deep Blue Sea and Me, and Nikki Van De Car shares the magic and meaning behind her acclaimed debut young adult novel, The Invisible Wild.
Lurline Wailana McGregor, born to a Hawaiian, Chinese, Scottish father and German mother, grew up in Honolulu, Hawai’i in a community that reflected her own multi-cultural background. She has had a varied career, working for Senator Inouye as staff on the Indian Affairs Committee in Washington, D.C. before moving back home, where she headed media-related non-profit organizations before leaving to pursue her own creative work. She produced documentary videos, both independently and as a producer for Hawaiʻi Public Television and has since focused on writing, including for magazines as well as writing her first novel, Between the Deep Blue Sea and Me. Her second novel, Waking In A Sea of Dreams, was published in 2025.
Nikki Van De Car is kanaka māoli and the author of over two dozen books on crafting and magic. The Invisible Wild is her first YA novel. Critics have praised it as "magically real and hopeful," a work that "breathes with the love of the land and her people." Van De Car lives with her family in Volcano on the Big Island.
The 2025 Live from the Atherton: Storytellersʻ Series was produced by Kyla Herrmann with audio production and post-production by Ananddev Banerjee. The broadcast of this event was produced by Russell Subiono.
