KULEANA: A Book Reading w/ Sara Kehaulani Goo

Thursday August 7, 2025
6 – 8 p.m.
Atrium of Hawaiian Hall
$10 General Admission, Free for Museum Members

Kuleana: A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai‘i is the story of an award-winning journalist’s effort to hold on to her family’s ancestral Hawaiian lands—and find herself along the way. In light of the recent book release, join us for a live book reading and Q&A with author Sara Kehaulani Goo in conversation with guest moderator Maya Soetoro-Ng, faculty specialist at the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution. The conversation will explore the author’s writing process, how research in Bishop Museum’s collections and archives informed the book, and reflections on the future of her family land on Maui’s east side, which includes the stewardship of Pi‘ilanihale Heiau. The book reading and Q&A will be followed by a presentation by the author’s Kumu hula Kaimana Chee of Hālau Nohona Hawai‘i.

6 p.m. Book Reading w/ Sara Kehaulani Goo
6:30 p.m. Q&A with Sara Kehaulani Goo and Maya Soetoro-Ng
7:30 p.m. Performance by Kumu Hula Kaimana Chee of Hālau Nohona Hawai‘i

About Kuleana: A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai‘i
The vast area on the rugged shores of Maui’s east side—given by King Kamehameha III in 1848—extends from mountain to sea, encompassing ninety acres of lush, undeveloped rainforest along the rocky coastline and a massive sixteenth-century temple. When a property tax bill arrives with a 500 percent increase, Sara Kehaulani Goo and her family members are forced to make a decision: fight to keep the land or sell to the next offshore millionaire. When Sara returns to Maui, she reconnects with her great-uncle Take and uncovers the story of how much land her family has already lost over generations, centuries-old artifacts from Pi‘ilanihale Heiau, and the insidious displacement of Native Hawaiians by systemic forces. Part journalistic offering and part memoir, Kuleana interrogates deeper questions of identity, legacy, and what we owe to those who come before and after us. Sara’s breathtaking story of unexpected homecomings, familial hardship, and fierce devotion to ancestry creates a refreshingly new narrative about Hawai‘i, its native people, and their struggle to hold on to their land and culture today.

“A powerful story of land, belonging, loss, and survival that challenges us all to think about what we are responsible for.” —Rebecca Nagle, bestselling author of By the Fire We Carry

*Signed books will be available for sale