My Urohs
Emelihter Kihleng
Poetry, 2008
The first poetry collection by a Pohnpeian writer, mixing English and Pohnpeian to explore identity, colonialism and island life.
Books set in Micronesia
Two books that put you in Micronesia. One, My Urohs, is by a writer from Micronesia and set there. The other is a wider pick, by someone who knows the place well.
About the literature of Micronesia
Much of the literature of the Federated States of Micronesia has been carried by voice, in chants, songs and navigation lore, rather than printed in books. Its four states, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae, are home to many languages, and on Pohnpei people still tell of the Saudeleur rulers who built the stone city of Nan Madol. With small speaking communities and traditions passed on aloud, very little has reached English print.
Stephen D. Thomas's The Last Navigator portrays Mau Piailug of Satawal, the master of traditional Carolinian wayfinding who guided the canoe Hōkūleʻa from Hawaii to Tahiti in 1976 without instruments. His knowledge, like so much in these islands, was passed on by teaching rather than writing.
By writers from Micronesia
Wider picks
By long-time residents and outsiders who know the place well, or folk tales, poetry and history with a strong feel for Micronesia.
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The Last Navigator
Stephen D. Thomas
Memoir, 1987
Wider pick: By an American outsider who lived with Carolinian navigators
Follows Satawal navigator Mau Piailug and the survival of traditional Carolinian wayfinding across the open ocean.
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