Da Word

Fiction. Asian American Studies. Writing entirely what people in Hawaìi refer to as Pidgin, Lee A. Tonouchi takes the language largely associated with Hawaìi's underprivileged youth and attempts to legitimize it in literature. His high-performance readings of his humorous fiction pieces have won Tonouchi a large underground following and the local media has given him the notorious nickname, Da Pidgin Guerrilla for his work in starting up his own Pidgin-centered literary magazine, Hybolics. Tonouchi was named Best New Face in the field of literature by HONOLULU Magazine and the It writer by The Honolulu Advertiser, the state's biggest daily.