William Nu'utupu Giles - Spoken Word Performance
William Nuʻutupu Giles is an afakasi Samoan writer and arts educator from Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. He has performed poetry on stages across North America including the San Francisco Opera House, John F. Kennedy Center, and Broadway’s New Amsterdam Theatre. Will has facilitated poetry workshops across Oceania in Papua New Guinea, Guåhan, and Aotearoa. He was featured in the HBO documentary Russell Simmons Presents: Brave New Voices, where he helped the Hawaiʻi team win is first International Poetry Slam Championship. Will is also the first Pacific Islander to win the National Underground Poetry Individual Competition.
Will’s poems dig for the political seeds in personal stories. Their work connects contemporary poetry with the Oral Traditions of Polynesian genealogy and crosses oceans of immigrant identity, colonization, representation, and masculinity. Will’s work has been featured by NBC News, The National Parks Service, HBO, Bustle, LitHub, and Button Poetry.
At home they have spent the last 10 years working with Youth Speaks Hawaiʻi, giving back to the organization and community that helped them develop a voice. He has served as a Poet Facilitator, Assistant Outreach Coordinator, and Workshop Coordinator. Will lives for the moment of firsts in a blooming poet's eyes. The first line, first draft, and the first time someone opens their mouth and believes in the power of their own story.
Following the spoken word performance, please join us for an interactive workshop from 2:15pm to 3:15pm in Jackson Center room 106; facilitated by William Nu’utupu Giles.
Oceans in Islands, Islands in oceans
The political and colonial history in the Pacific Ocean means that countries and families have often been split and taken away from themselves. Will leads discussion and writing exercises to identify the islands and nations with every person. This workshop challenges participants to write the places we have come from. Map where we are going and sew a flag from the memories of home.
For more information on this event, please contact Anna Orozco, Diversity & Engagement Coordinator, at (425)388-9505 or Student LIFE Advisor, Lindsay Hudson, at (425)388-9508. If you are a person with a disability and need an accommodation in connection with this event, contact the Center for Disability Services at least 5 days in advance at (425)388-9273 orcds@everettcc.edu.