NAZ KAWAKAMI
EDITOR / WRITER / PHOTOGRAPHER(@nazkawakami)
ABOUT:
My name is Nazareth Kekainalu Kawakami. I am twenty nine years old. I am the Editor in Chief of Monster Children. Because at the time of writing this bio I am creatively bankrupt and unable to think of a funny way to blow this off (see James Royce’s for an example of someone who did it right), here are some facts about me that I’d put on a resume if I were applying for a job as an editor at Monster Children.
I am Hawaiian and Japanese but I look like neither of those things and my confused sense of identity bothers me very much. I was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai’i. My brother, father, and sister all surfed growing up, so I skated, and went to shows, and snuck into parties I wasn’t invited to, and threw my own, and took lots of photos, and put on art shows, and was despicable for most of my teens and twenties.
I have a bachelor’s degree in English with a focus in theatre and narrative theory from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa where I was also an overnight DJ and Director at KTUH (the university radio station) and where I was specifically asked not to contribute to Ka Leo (the school newspaper).
I have written about music, war, politics, skateboarding, social inequality, surfing, elections, economics, art, nightlife, film, crime, counterculture, and science professionally for eleven years. I have had work featured in publications like Business Insider, NPR, Flux, Vice, and Jenkem, and have contributed to work published by MSNBC, the AP, and The Guardian.
I have also written award-winning plays and movies, most notably, Every Day In Kaimuki (dir. Alika Tengan) which premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2022.
I like long walks on the beach, Pina Coladas, Oxford commas, and getting caught in the rain.
send love letters to naz@monsterchildren.com
hate mail to sam@monsterchildren.com
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