Hula
by Jasmin Iolani HakesHarperVia2023Query Letter
Two hundred years ago, Christian missionaries convinced the Hawaiian royal family to outlaw hula on the grounds that it was immodest, promoted lasciviousness, and laced with superstitions that revered pagan idols. But hula was how the Hawaiian people passed down their family stories, their legends and myths. Hula explained the phenomena of their world and reinforced the rules of their culture. One hundred fifty years later, Hawaii’s culture faced a new challenge: to survive the heavy thumb of American statehood.
Hi’i doesn’t need a reminder that her island is composed of two worlds. Every day, she wakes up on Hawaiian Homelands, territory claimed by the Hawaiian Sovereign Movement in protest of the illegal occupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom and walks to her school in America. She waits eagerly to be old enough to start training to be the next Miss Aloha Hula, when she can show the world where her loyalty and allegiance will always reside. Hula is her destiny, her inheritance, her legacy. Her grandmother was the famed hula teacher Hulali Naupaka, her mother the very first Miss Aloha Hula. But when the true origins of her birth reveal themselves, her place in the world disappears. Everything she thought she knew for certain is suddenly in question. What is a Hawaiian? And who gets to say?
HULA is a 92,000-word work of fiction. It won the award for Best Fiction at the Southern California Writers Conference in 2018.
Jasmin Iolani Hakes was born and raised on the Big Island of Hawaii. She started dancing hula when she was three years old. She is a public speaker and political consultant based in California, where she helps women shape their narratives to empower them to run for office. Her memoir-in-progress was a finalist for the Kore Press Memoir Award. An excerpt was featured in the Los Angeles Times. She was the recipient of a 2018 Hedgebrook residency.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
About
Age Range
Adult
Genre
Historical Fiction
Word Count
100,000
Book Link
https://bookshop.org/p/books/hula-jasmin-iolani-hakes/19218588?ean=9780063276987
Agent
Sarah Bowlin
Query Stats
Year Queried
2018
Number of Queries Sent
1
Number of Full Requests Received
3
Number of Offers of Representation
1
Number of Months Spent Querying This Novel
I submitted the query to AWP only because I had planned to attend. The manuscript was newly written and unpolished so was not yet at a stage where I felt ready to query.
Years Spent Writing Before Getting an Offer
7
Number of Manuscripts Queried Before This One
2
Publication Status of The Book Queried
Published (Big 5)
Years Spent Writing Before This Book was Published
~10