From Our Sea of Islands: Poetry and Environmental Justice from Oceania
In celebration of Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Dr. Leora Kava, a hafekasi poet of mixed Tongan and palangi descent and an Assistant Professor of Critical Pacific Islands & Oceania Studies at San Francisco State University, will present her poetry, lead a discussion on environmental justice from an Oceania perspective, and walk participants through a creative writing exercise.
Complimentary public parking is available in Lot 11 and light refreshments will be provided.
About the Poet
Leora Kava
Leora (Lee) Kava is an Assistant Professor of Critical Pacific Islands & Oceania Studies, housed within the department of Race and Resistance Studies at San Francisco State University. She is a poet and musician of mixed Tongan descent, and dedicates her work to her family, community, students, and genealogies of creativity and liberation within and beyond Oceania. Alongside Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner and Craig Santos Perez, she co-edited the anthology Indigenous Pacific Islander Eco-Literatures (UH Press) and has reviews of Pacific Islander poetry in Poetry Magazine and The Contemporary Pacific. Her writing can be found in Amerasia Journal, KorePress.org, The Hawaii Review, Academy of American Poets, and Orion Magazine, with recordings available on podcasts It's Lit with PhDJ (based in Honolulu) and For The Qultures (based in the San Francisco Bay Area.