MidWeek East - July 21, 2021

FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 21, 2021
NEW ROLE FOR CHUN
Hawai‘i Kai resdient named now at Castle & Cooke Hawai‘i.
SEE PAGE 2
CAST AWAY
A fisherman tries his luck all by his lonesome in the waters off Wailupe. SEE PAGE 7
Kaimukī Publisher Expands Series
A PUBLICATION OF
AN EDITION OF
(From left) Dimpna Figuracion, Jen Yoneshige, Lani Lee, Mariko Merritt and Diane O’Neal showcase the myriad reading options at da Shop: books + curiosities in Kaimukī. LAWRENCE TABUDLO PHOTO
ABY LIANNE BIDAL THOMPSON
recent story in Publisher’s Weekly said that book sales — actual, phys- ical books — were up by 8.2% in
2020, the largest year-over-year gain since 2010. That bodes well for publishers and booksellers, like Kaimukī-based Bess Press and its store, da Shop: books + curiosities, located at 3565 Harding Ave.
With the publisher’s latest offerings, there’ll be lots of new titles for customers to discover.
Bess Press was founded more than four decades ago by Buddy Bess and Ann Rayson who had the idea of providing ed- ucational materials that related to Hawai‘i, its people and culture.
“From 1979, our publishing mission was and continues to be to provide relevant cur- riculum content for educators as well as the general public ... especially regional chil- dren’s books that support literacy,” saysBess.
In that tradition, the publishing house re- cently expanded its popular Island Read- SEE PAGE 4