Lei of Mo'olelo: Writing Across Islands and Diasporas

Lei of Mo'olelo: Writing Across Islands and Diasporas is a pop-in creative writing event celebrating Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month through the stories, languages and cultural traditions of the Pacific. Hosted in the Writing Center, the event is grounded in the Hawaiian concept of moʻolelo—stories that carry knowledge, memory and relationships across communities. Through a series of interactive writing activities, participants are encouraged to reflect on identity, community and connection across islands and in the diaspora through writing and Pacific perspectives on storytelling and knowledge.

Activities will include opportunities for participants to:

• Learn, write and say simple words and phrases in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language).
• Build a collaborative “Lei of Moʻolelo,” where participants contribute written reflections to a communal lei displayed in the Writing Center.
• Create their own paper lei to take home or share aloha with someone in their community.

Together, these activities use moʻolelo (stories) and ʻōlelo (language) to foster pilina (relationships/connections) and build a sense of community among students and faculty at Syracuse University. All are welcome.