Kealoha is the founder of HawaiiSlam (www.HawaiiSlam.com) and the host of First Thursdays, the largest certified slam poetry competition in the world (with an average attendance of 500+). His work has been released on a full-length spoken word CD entitled Kealoha, which fuses poetry with various genres of music including hip-hop beats, slack key compositions, jazzy instrumentals, and melodic vocals. Featured artists include Barry Flanagan (Hapa), HawaiianRyan (104.3 XME), Selah Geissler (HawaiiSlam Team), Gloria Baraquio (sister of Angela and Bernadette), Communication (organic hip-hop band), and more. In the literary world, his poetry has been published by Wordstew, Bamboo Ridge, and Hybolics. As a dynamic performance poet and teacher, Kealoha has visited various libraries and schools (ranging from elementary schools to universities) throughout the islands of Hawaii as a guest lecturer. On the national level, he has performed at venues throughout San Francisco and Boston, and he placed in the top 25% at the 2003 National Poetry Slam in Chicago. He has shared the stage with various acts such as Medusa (Grammy Award Winner), Yellow Rage (HBO’s Def Poetry Jam), and Mike McGee (National Poetry Slam Champion). In the Spring of 2003, Kealoha co-wrote and played the lead role in a hip-hop theatre production entitled Chase, which sold out on every night of its original and encore runs. He is the coach of the HawaiiSlam team, and he has also directed various productions including a sold out show of the Vagina Monologues at Hawaii Theatre (featuring luminaries such as Joy Harjo, Nora Okja Keller , and Lois-Ann Yamanaka). Visit www.KealohaPoetry.com for more information.