Author of The Charm Buyers, University of Hawai'i Press, recipient of the Ka Palapala Po'okela Award for Excellence; The Spellbound, forthcoming 2026
269 posts
Latest Posts by lillianhowan - Page 5
Mautini, Tahitian Pumpkin
photo: Francoise Holozet-Howan
Thank you to TuftsNow of Tufts University for selecting The Charm Buyers for Summer Reading! Thank you to Grace Talusan for writing The Charm Buyers review for Tufts!
Lillian, you spent seven years writing The Charm Buyers. What were your inspirations for writing this story?
My inspirations were the land and the people. Tahiti is incredibly beautiful, but there’s also such sadness in its history. I hoped to bring its recent history to life, particularly nuclear testing - but I didn’t want to write a polemic novel. I hope that The Charm Buyers brings the complexity, radiance, darkness, and hopefulness of its individuals to life.
It reads like Joan Didion on opium - Honolulu Magazine reviews The Charm Buyers.
Delighted to be on Honolulu Magazine’s Must-Reads Summer Books List!
Thank you so much, Winterman! My apologies for posting this so late. Marvelous Fuyoto of wintermanworld sent this wonderful illustration, together with a kind packet of designs, all the way from Japan. This is my absolute favorite of so many of his thought-provoking, memorable illustrations. Many thanks, Winterman!
@wintermanworld
photo: Francoise Holozet-Howan
photo: Francoise Holozet-Howan
University of Hawai’i Press (2017)
The Charm Buyers describes extraordinary beauty and turbulent change: Tahiti during the last years of nuclear testing in the Pacific.
“The Charm Buyers isn’t just a book, it’s a world―full of the complexity and beauty of life, masterfully created. Reading this felt like diving into a reality both eerily familiar and yet artistically brand new. Lillian Howan’s talent is rare, refreshing, and casts a spell from page one.” —Mat Johnson, author of Loving Day and Pym
“The Charm Buyers is a thought-provoking insight into a time of cultural change. It captures an essence of existing between reality and surreality, dreaming and wakefulness, the past and the future.” —Foreword Reviews
https://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/the-charm-buyers/
Coconut, Island of Kauehi
photo: Francoise Holozet-Howan
Bora Bora, approached by the sea
photo: Bruno Leou-on
Starfruit
Carambola
photo: Lillian Howan
Recycled paper created with paper cranes from Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
The paper cranes honor Sadako Sasaki who was two years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on her home of Hiroshima and twelve when she died of leukemia caused by exposure to radiation. According to Japanese legend, anyone who folds a thousand origami paper cranes will be granted a wish. During her lifetime, Sadako began folding paper cranes towards her goal of one thousand and, after her death, her classmates continued folding, completing one thousand paper cranes.
Milkweed Pod
The Edible Schoolyard
Hikueru
Tuamotu Islands
photo: Francoise Holozet-Howan
Takaroa
Tuamotu Islands
photo: Francoise Holozet-Howan
the Îles Maria, Australes Islands
photo: Francoise Holozet-Howan
