Submissions are now closed.

Stay tuned for when we reopen for
submissions to part two of our Va series.

"Va is the space between, the betweenness, not empty space, not space that separates but space that relates, that holds separate entities and things together in the Unity-that-is-All, the space that is context, giving meaning to things. The meanings change as the relationships and the contexts change. . . . A well-known Samoan expression is ‘Ia teu le va’—cherish, nurse, care for the va, the relationships."

-Albert Wendt, "Tatauing the Post-Colonial Body"
 

OCCUPYING VA, THE BETWEENNESS

We are issuing this call for submissions from the occupied islands of Hawai‘i, whose sovereign space was illegally overthrown in 1893. Last year, Mauna Kea was occupied by defenders against development on the sacred peak. Around the globe, people are also advocating and active in Occupy movements, Black Lives Matter, LGBT movements, and other initiatives to reclaim and change relational spaces. What we say about space today might be a litmus test for the unrest around us, as well as for our own efforts of nursing and care. Hannah Arendt insisted that the world is not a thing but a moving field of relations, a space we all continually make. What might it mean to occupy relational space? Can va be occupied? We occupy, but we also hold, and share. What would be the story of such a space? The Hawai‘i Review seeks new poetry and fiction responding to these questions, for a two-part series to be released in the fall and spring. 

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All accepted poems and stories will be automatically considered for the annual Ian MacMillan Awards, with a cash prize of $500 for one winner in each genre. The winning pieces will be read blindly and selected by our guest judges, Craig Santos Perez (poetry) and Shawna Yang Ryan (fiction). 

All submissions will also be considered for HR Online, the digital complement to the print journal. If you would not like your work considered for online publication, please indicate so in the submission form. If you wish to submit creative nonfiction, critical work, plays, or reviews for HR Online, please query first. Detailed formatting guidelines can be found on our Submittable page:

2017 Ian MacMillan Awards: Guest Judges

SHAWNA YANG RYAN is a former Fulbright scholar and the author of WATER GHOSTS (Penguin Press 2009) and GREEN ISLAND (Knopf 2016). GREEN ISLAND, a novel set during Taiwan’s martial law era, was an Amazon Best Book of February and an Indie Next Pick, and a Straits Times bestseller in Singapore. She is the 2015 recipient of the Elliot Cades Emerging Writer award. She teaches in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.

CRAIG SANTOS PEREZ is the editor of two anthologies, the author of three books of poetry, and the winner of an American Book Award. He is an associate professor in the English Department at the University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa.