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- Kirby Michael Wright is an American writer best known for his 2005 coming-of-age island novel Punahou Blues and the epic novel Moloka'i Nui Ahina, which is based on the life and times of Wright's paniolo grandmother. Both novels deal with the racial tensions between haoles (whites) and the indigenous Hawaiians, and illustrate the challenge for characters who, as the product of mixed-race marriages, must try to bridge the two cultures and overcome prejudice from both camps. Wright has ventured into the genre of creative nonfiction in 2019 with The Queen of Moloka'i, which explores the teenage years of his part-Hawaiian grandmother and documents the Wright family saga in the islands. Wright's work is primarily concerned with the complexities of multicultural Hawaii, Killahaole Day, prejudices against (and within) island high schools, and the tricky matter of interracial dating. He incorporates the local creole language into his novels and was the first author to document the pidgin English spoken by the paniolo cowboys on the east end of Molokai. Wright has ventured into the arena of speculative fiction with a pair of books in 2013. The End, My Friend is a futuristic thriller set in the not-too-distant future featuring a survivalist couple roaming an apocalyptic landscape from San Diego north to Crater Lake, Oregon. Square Dancing at the Asylum is set, in part, at the former state asylum in Worcester, Mass., and is dedicated to , Wright's great-uncle and lifelong resident of the asylum. Both books received Certificates of Excellence at the 2014 San Diego Book Awards. HOUDINI, his first play, was performed at the Secret Theatre in New York on February 20, 2016. The Secret Theatre produced his second play, Asylum Uncle, on November 4, 2016. (en)
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