Jeffrey J. Higa
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
Calabash Stories, Pleiades Press, February 2021.
• Shortlisted for the 2022 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing
PIDGIN POETRY
“Canto 2 from the Pidgin Inferno" (video) in The Hawai'i Review of Books (March 4, 2022).
“Canto 22 from the Pidgin Inferno" in Hawai'i Pacific Review (October 20, 2022).
• Nominated for the Pushcart Prize
“Canto 27 from the Pidgin Inferno" in The Hawai'i Review of Books (February 23, 2022).
FICTION
“The Boy, the Carpenter, and the Risen” in Willow Springs #91, (Spring 2023), pp. 55-67.
“Kuma-chan” in Chiburu: Anthology of Hawai'i Okinawan Literature, ed. Lee A. Tonouchi (Bess Press, 2023): pp. 128-135.
“Palama Inn” in Salt Hill #48, (Fall 2022), pp. 94-101.
“Lost Boys” in The Lit Quarterly #5, (Winter 2021), pp. 53-62.
“Relievers” in Bamboo Ridge #113, (2018), pp. 118-133.
“The Summer of Miracles and Lies” in Bamboo Ridge #98, (2011), pp. 117-136.
“Christmas Stories” in Honolulu Stories, ed. Gavan Daws and Bennett Hymer (Mutual Publishing, LLC., 2008): pp. 273-287.
“Wooing Elizabeth” in Zyzzyva #82 Vol. XXIV, No. 1 (Spring 2008), pp. 81-104.
“Trading Heroes” in Scoring from Second: Writers on Baseball, ed. Philip F. Deaver (Univ.of Nebraska Press, 2007): pp. 254-264.
“A Troublemaker Tells Secrets” in Aunties: Thirty-Five Writers Celebrate Their Other Mother, ed. Ingrid Sturgis (Ballantine Books,
2004): pp. 64-67.
“The Icebox Stay Coming” in Zyzzyva #62 Vol. XVII, No. 2 (Fall 2001), pp. 63-74.
“Trading Heroes” in Sonora Review #40 (Spring 2001), pp. 17-27.
“Christmas Stories” in Bamboo Ridge #75 (Spring 1999), pp. 74-90.
“What I Really Wanted to Say at Steve McGarrett’s Retirement Party” in Honolulu (Nov. 1995): pp. 28-32.
CREATIVE NON-FICTION (CNF)
"Notes on my Talk to Ms. F_____'s 10th Grade English Class" Tahoma Literary Review, Issue 23, Summer 2022, pp. 98-110.
[A recording of the essay @TahomaLiterary SoundCloud]
"How we Spend our Days: Jeffrey J. Higa" Featured writer at cynthianewberrymartin.com (June 2022)
"5 Over 50" in Poets & Writers Magazine Volume 49 • Issue 6 (Nov/Dec 2021), p. 58.
“Finding My Voice" in Everyday Matters: The RPI Research & Discovery Blog (March 22, 2021).
“One Fan’s Tribute” in Honolulu (September 1997): pp. 42-44.
“Writing Culture” in A.: Inside Asian America (February/March 1996): pp. 22-23.
“Stupid Questions” in Honolulu (April 1995): pp. 74-75.
“Writing in Sacred Spaces” in HarperCollins Fellowship in Composition Collection (Spring 1995): p. 5.
“Yuppies: Victors or Victims of Ideology?” in Business Today (Spring 1990): p. 53.
BOOKS REVIEWS and CRITICISM
“Novellas are Better. Are Millhauser's the Best?” in The Hawai'i Review of Books (April 22, 2024).
“Higa on Hongo: The Perfect Sound” in The Hawai'i Review of Books (September 16, 2022).
• Nominated for the Best American Essays 2023
“I read the way dads like to watch TV (The Perfect Sound)” in Honolulu Magazine (March 29, 2022).
“Sia Figiel's Where We Once Belonged” in Asian-American Arts Alliance Dialogue #6 (Spring ‘00).
“Romolo Valencia” in Asian-American Arts Alliance Dialogue #3 (Spring ‘99).
“Internment Narratives in Japanese-American Literature,” Twentieth-Century Literature Conference, University of Louisville,
KY, February 1995.
“Identity and the Mirror of Bifocality: Kazuo Miyamoto’s Hawaii End of the Rainbow,” Theoretical Approaches to Marginalized
Literatures, University of Montana, MO, March 1994.
DRAMA and RADIO
RADIO PLAY & BROADCAST
"Christmas Stories," produced by Aloha Shorts and Hawaii Public Radio, Honolulu, HI. (December 2009, rebroadcast
December 2010).
TABLE READING
Futless, by Kumu Kahua Theatre, Honolulu, HI. (April 17, 2005).
DISTINCTIONS
2023 The Best American Essays nomination – “Higa on Hongo: The Perfect Sound”, The Hawai'i Review of Books (September 16, 2022).
Finalist — 2022 Italo Calvino Prize, Creative Writing Department at the University of Louisville/Miracle Monocle, 2023.
2022 Pushcart Prize nomination – Canto 22: Pidgin Inferno, October 2022.
Kundiman Fellow in Fiction – 2022 Sewanee Writers' Conference, July 2022.
2022 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing – Shortlisted: Calabash Stories, May 2022.
Robert C. Jones Prize for Short Prose Winner – Pleiades Press, 2020.
Honorable Mention — Kurt Vonnegut Fiction Prize, North American Review, 2019.
First Place — Hawai’i Prize Full Length Play, Kumu Kahua Theatre/Univ. of Hawaii, 2003.
HarperCollins Fellow in Composition, Harper-Collins, New York, NY, 1995.
Travel Grant, University of Missouri-St. Louis Graduate Travel Grant in English, St. Louis, MO, 1994.
First Place—Business Today essay contest, Business Today, Princeton, NJ, 1990.
McKinney Writing Award — Fiction, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 1991, 1989.
CONFERENCES and WORKSHOPS
Fiction Fellow, Sewanee Writers' Conference, July 2022.
Featured panelist, Taking Care in Writing, Publishing, & Building Community Conference by Writers & Books, January 2022.
Workshop participant in fiction, One Story Summer Conference, July 2015.
Paper presentation, Twentieth-Century Literature Conference, University of Louisville, KY, February 1995.
Paper presentation, Theoretical Approaches to Marginalized Literatures, University of Montana, MO, March 1994.
EDUCATION
Master of Arts in English — Creative Writing, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri.
Creative Writing Program, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona.
Bachelor's of Science — Communication, emphasis in Literature, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY.
PROFILES and INTERVIEWS
"Featured Profile: Jeffrey J. Higa" Willow Springs #91, (Spring 2023), March 3, 2023.
"Essential Hawai'i Books You Should Read: The Next 134." Honolulu Magazine, August 26, 2022.
"Literature – Calabash Stories: Higa's First Book Wins National Literary Prize," The Hawai'i Herald, June 18, 2021, p. 7
"On the Scene with writer and playwright Jeffrey J. Higa," Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Detours & Travel, June 13, 2021, p. D03
[pdf of above: "On the Scene with writer and playwright Jeffrey J. Higa"]
“First Time Playwright Strikes Gold,” The East Tennessee Writer, Vol. 13, No. 3, March 2005, p. 2.
"Word Up!" The Riverfront Times, Number 832, September 14-20, 1994, p. 5.
"Outreach Program Nurtures Students with the 'Write' Stuff," Tri-Valley Dispatch, Vol. 61, No. 44, October 30, 1991, p.1.
"Challenging a Traditional Liberal Arts Education," A New Way of Looking at the World, September 1990, p. 14-15.