North Seattle author Loreen Lilyn Lee introduces her memoir of growing up in Hawai'i on Thursday at Third Place Books

Loreen Lilyn Lee will present her
memoir on Thursday at Third Place Books

Since May is Asian Pacific Islander (API) Heritage Month, the recently published memoir The Lava Never Sleeps: A Honolulu Memoir is timely, offering readers an opportunity to remember this diverse population. 

Loreen Lilyn Lee shares her memories of growing up in the islands in the 1950s and 1960s in a middle-class Chinese American family. Born in Honolulu, T.H. (Territory of Hawaii) before statehood, she recalls multiple landscapes that have shaped her life, providing an insider's look into Hawai'i's local cultures.

This is a journey over decades that explore place, family trauma, cultures, memory— layers of physical and emotional bodies— until Hawaiian geology and mythology sing her home.

Lee will introduce her memoir at her Seattle book launch and reading on Thursday, May 2, at Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park at 7pm. The store is located at Town Center, intersection of Bothell and Ballinger Way NE.

Willow Books Literature Awards selected The Lava Never Sleeps: A Honolulu Memoir for its 2018 Grand Prize Winner, Prose.

Lee has lived in Seattle for over 30 years, is a graduate of University of Washington, Bothell, and currently tutors English and writing at North Seattle College.