Monday, August 26, 2019

Marie Hara



Marie Hara has died. For the last 40 years, Marie was an author, editor, teacher. mentor, and community builder, a crucial member of the literary community in Hawai`i.

Marie was co-organizer of the crucial Talk Story Conference in the late 1970s that led to the creation of Bamboo Ridge Press, which “publishes literature by and about Hawai’i’s people.” Her book of short stories, Bananaheart and Other Stories, was published by Bamboo Ridge in 1994. She co-edited, with Nora Okja Keller, the anthology, Intersecting Circles: the voices of hapa women in poetry and prose (1999). She was winner of the Elliot Cades Award for Literature n 1995. She taught the first classes in Asian American Literature in the state of Hawai`i and was a long-time instructor in the UH English Department. [I’m not sure what years she taught.]

Those are some facts about Marie. The truth is less tangible, but also significant. Marie was kind, quirky, attentive and compassionate to her students and friends, open-minded in her reading and teaching practices. She leaves behind her husband, John, who designed UHWO’s campus and the Luce wing of the Hawai`i Museum of Art (among many other buildings), two daughters, and grandchildren.

She was a dear friend.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

About 4 years ago, I chose a story by Marie Hara to present to my short story study group. I e-mailed
Marie and asked her if she could give me a few biographical details to include in my presentation.
She sent me a beautiful, generous reply, which added greatly to the interest of my session.

Marie asked me to let her know how my class discussion went, and I was very happy to tell her how
very well it went; the story, "Honeymoon. Hotel" was an especially charming and poignant one, and
the class clearly had enjoyed reading it and then analyzing it during my session with them.

I had mentioned, in my e-mail to Marie, that I had found the story in a collection of stories by Asian
writers, and that I was looking forward to reading more of her stories through an inter-library loan.
Marie's reply stunned me; she asked for my mailing address and said she would send me a copy of
"Bananaheart", her book of short stories. The beautiful book arrived in the mail not long afterward and is a treasured keepsake for me.

I discovered only recently that Marie had died and my heart aches with the knowledge that this kind,
lovely woman is no longer with us. She responded with warmth and generosity to a stranger who wrote
her out of the blue; she took time out of her busy life to give me some background to the story I
had selected, and she shared biographical details about her life that further enriched my project.

People like Marie Hara are sources of comfort always, but especially so in these dark and fearful
times - our world lost some light when she left us.



susan said...

Thank you so much for this comment. I'll make sure Marie's family and friends see it. And I wish you weren't Anonymous!