An Interview with Anne Keala Kelly
On the latest episode of the podcast I host, “The Green Flame,” I spoke to my friend Anne Keala Kelly (Kānaka Maoli), a writer, filmmaker, and organizer fighting for Hawaiian independence and protection.
On this episode, Max Wilbert speaks with Anne Keala Kelly about her new short book, "Our Rights to Self-Determination: a Hawaiian Manifesto."
In addition to being an author, Keala is a filmmaker, journalist, podcaster, and writer. Her published articles and Op-Eds have appeared in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, The Nation, Indian Country Today, Honolulu Weekly, Honolulu Civil Beat, Hana Hou! Magazine, Big Island Journal, and other publications. Her broadcast journalism has aired on Free Speech Radio News, Independent Native News, Al Jazeera English, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Democracy Now!, The Environment Report, and more.
She is a frequent guest commentator on First Voices Indigenous Radio, and has been interviewed on numerous nationally syndicated radio programs, from KPFK Los Angeles' Rise-Up to Native America Calling in Anchorage to the Australia Broadcast Corporation's Pacific Beat. Her reporting on Hawaiian poverty and homelessness garnered her Native American Journalism Awards. And her documentary, Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai'i, has received international film festival awards, and is widely taught in university courses focusing on Indigenous Peoples, colonization, Hawaiian sovereignty, and militarism.
Keala is an outspoken Native advocate for Indigenous representation in media, and has been a guest speaker at universities in Hawai'i, the U.S., and Aotearoa-New Zealand. She has delivered conference keynotes and participated in conference and community panels and roundtables. She has an MFA in production from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television.