"Getting a Life: Biography Hawaii and the Art of TV Documentaries"

Dr. Craig Howes to speak at Downtown Speakers Program on Oct. 7

The Colleges of Arts & Sciences of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa continues its Downtown Speakers Program with a lecture on Thursday, Oct. 7, by Dr. Craig Howes, professor of English and director of the Center for Biographical Research. This free event will be held from noon to 1 p.m. at the American Savings Bank Tower, 1001 Bishop Street, 8th floor, room 805. It is a brown-bag event so attendees are invited to bring their lunches.

In this presentation, Howes will discuss the challenges and issues related to making television documentary biographies. As examples for discussion, participants will view excerpts from three documentaries in the Biography Hawaiʻi series for which he served as executive producer:

1) Maiki Aiu Lake (1925-1984) — influential hula teacher

2) Harriet Bouslog (1912-1998) — labor and civil rights lawyer

3) Princess Ruth Keʻelikolani — 19th-century Hawaiian aliʻi.

Howes is also the co-editor of the journal Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, and the author of Voices of the Vietnam POWs (Oxford UP, 1993). For the past two years he has served as series scholar, producer, and executive producer for the public television series Biography Hawaiʻi.

For more information about this event, contact the Colleges of Arts & Sciences‘ Office of Community and Alumni Relations at (808) 956-5790.