An estimated 30,000 people enjoyed the 2008 Hawai'i Book and Music Festival at Honolulu Hale. - Photo: Brian Green, courtesy of Hawai'i Book and Music Festival

By T. Ilihia Gionson / Ka Wai Ola

The fourth annual Hawai'i Book and Music Festival – offering 175 events and more than 500 presenters over two days at Honolulu Hale – promises to be an event to remember. The festival is sure to have something for all comers. And quite a few comers came to last year's event – 30,000 or so, by the organizers' estimates.

"This is an unusual book festival because it takes the idea of telling stories very broadly," said executive director Roger Jellinek. "We have song, books, poetry, sign language, dance, chant, hula, drama, improv comedy, many different ways of telling a story."

Families will love that a third of the program will be dedicated to teaching, entertaining and stimulating kids, Jellinek said, with more than 50 acts and authors just for the keiki including sessions dedicated to the recent explosion in bilingual English/'ōlelo Hawai'i keiki books.

Above: The book swap was a popular attraction at last year's Hawai'i Book and Music Festival. - Photo: Courtesy Hawai'i Book and Music Festival

For the grown-ups, there will be discussions on the tenuous struggle over ceded lands, the Akaka Bill, and Hawaiian literacy yesterday and today. Panelists will also discuss a Hawaiian sense of place in mele and literature, as well as a discussion on sense of place in tourism: is it an honor, or an exploitation? Also watch the world premiere of Herb Kāne's film Voyagers as well as Whale Rider along with author Witi Ihimaera at screenings at Consolidated Theaters in Kāhala Mall.

Entertainers who will grace the main stage include the Royal Hawaiian Band, Kamakakēhau Fernandez, Ken Makuakāne, Mihana, Peter Apo, Michael Pili Pang and Hālau Hula Ka No'eau.

Add to all this the long list of locally and nationally known authors presenting – fantasy writer Terry Brooks (the Shannara series), Lisa Kana'e (Islands Linked By Ocean), Chris McKinney (Mililani Mauka, Tattoo), children's book author James Rumford (Silent Music, The Island-below-the-Star), suspense and horror writer John Saul (Perfect Nightmare, Suffer the Children), and tita Lois-Ann Yamanaka (Blu's Hanging, Saturday Night at the Pāhala Theatre), among others – and you get a weekend of fun and learning for the whole family.