Something strange is happening in Hilo. Noleani Choi’s new show about the life of Jesus Christ told through hula dance has everyone, especially her halau, wondering what she could possibly be thinking. Rumors circulate about a rich guy from the mainland, and the dancers and their friends must reckon with what is really hula, who is Hawaiian enough, and why each of them wants to dance. On one beautiful island, we discover that loving other people in spite of their flaws might just begin with being true to our own selves. "Aoki engages all of your senses with her portrait of Hawaii. Emotions, visions, ideas, dreams, and plain reality all occupy the space of this world simultaneously. Never before have I more definitively felt I was experiencing a place through art." -- Youngist.org "Aoki writes in these gorgeous, flowing motions that sound so natural I am entirely convinced and captivated by her work. Her novel, He Mele a Hilo , was one of my favorite books I read in 2015 and has become one of the standards that I now hold anything I read up against."-- Bookriot.com "This work will find its place not only within the recent renaissance of trans women's literature but, I believe, within the canon of American literature as a whole... You will spend this whole novel wondering about Nona's chicken recipe, and then you will put it down and realize you just read an incredibly nuanced critique of gentrification and colonialism."-- Transgender Studies Quarterly "Aoki's spirited, slightly surrealistic, and ultimately upbeat novel challenges settler colonialist rhetoric in its evocation of a pluralist ethos for Hawaiian identity. He Mele A Hilo: A Hilo Song articulates an expansive and inspiring approach to the local and Hawaiian identities....would be productive to read alongside other writers already highlighted in AALF including Gary Pak and Kristiana Kahahauwila." -- Asian American Literature Fans "Together with conversations in pidgin, plate lunches, meditations on what it means to be Hawaiian, and magical occurrences, "He Mele A Hilo" is surely one of the best books I've read in a while. Just from the first 50 pages alone, I had a feeling that I was in for something special. Overall, "He Mele a Hilo" is the first novel in a while that I would give it a 5 out of 5 stars. It's a book I will definitely read again, and one I would recommend for anyone who wants a really well written, authentic read about the people of modern-day Hawaii." -- The Wind-Up Books Chronicle This is my love letter to the Hilo I know and the people I care about. Rich in authentic voice, the book is grounded in emotional honesty, rhythmic prose, and doses of humor and heartbreak that loft the reader along as believers in Aoki's thrilling dream." -- Maureen McCoy, Author of Junebug and Walking After Midnight " A debut novel unlike any you have ever read." -- Robert Morgan, Author of Gap Creek Ryka Aoki lives, writes, and works in Los Angeles. She is also the author of Seasonal Velocities and Why Dust Shall Never Settle Upon This Soul . Ryka has an MFA in Creative Writing from Cornell University and is the recipient of a University Award from the Academy of American Poets. Her chapbook, Sometimes Too Hot the Eye of Heaven Shines , won the RADAR's 2010 Eli Coppola Chapbook Contest. Her first full-length volume, Seasonal Velocities, was released in 2012 by Trans-Genre Press.