Da Word

Fiction. Asian American Studies. Writing entirely what people in Hawai`i refer to as Pidgin, Lee A. Tonouchi takes the language largely associated with Hawai`i'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.