S. N. Haleole

author

S. N. Haleole

Best known for turning Hawaiian oral tradition into one of the earliest book-length works written by a Native Hawaiian, this 19th-century writer helped preserve a rich world of story, chant, and legend. His name is most closely linked with Ke Kaao o Laieikawai, a classic of Hawaiian literature first published in the 1860s.

1 Audiobook

The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai

The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai

by S. N. Haleole

About the author

S. N. Haleole was a 19th-century Native Hawaiian writer remembered above all for Ke Kaao o Laieikawai. The story first appeared as a serial in the Hawaiian-language newspaper Ka Nupepa Kuokoa from November 29, 1862, to April 4, 1863, and was then published in book form in 1863.

That work is especially important because it is widely described as the first book-length literary work by a Hawaiian to be published as a book. Drawing on older Hawaiian moolelo and storytelling traditions, Haleole helped carry oral narrative into print while keeping its strong sense of wonder, place, and poetry.

Very little biographical information about Haleole is readily confirmed from the sources consulted here, but his literary legacy is clear. Through Laieikawai, he holds an enduring place in Hawaiian literature and in the preservation of Hawaiian language storytelling.