About

Photo by Shirley Cai

There is no period in her name.

Pronunciation guide:

T Kira Māhealani Madden (she/her) is a diasporic Kanaka 'Ōiwi (Native Hawaiian) writer and author of the novel Whidbey, forthcoming with Mariner in winter 2026.

Her memoir, Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, was named a New York Times Editors' Choice, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, and the Lambda Literary Award. She is the Founding Editor of No Tokens, a magazine of literature and art, and has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Hedgebrook, Tin House, MacDowell, and Yaddo. Winner of the 2021 Judith A. Markowitz Award, she served as the Distinguished Writer in Residence at University of Hawai'i at Mānoa and currently teaches at Hamilton College as an assistant professor in Creative Writing and Indigenous studies. 

Honors & Awards

  • Keynote Speaker, Ola i ka wai, Five College NAISA/APA Symposium, 2025

  • Writer-in-Residence, Butler University, 2025

  • Distinguished Writer-in-Residence, University of Hawai’i Mānoa, 2024

  • Peter Wirth and Catherine Lou Fellowship Award Winner for Journalism, MacDowell, 2023

  • Annual Gala Honoree, Kundiman, 2023

  • Recipient of Dean’s Discretionary Fund, in support of Whidbey, College of Charleston, 2022

  • Edelstein-Keller Distinguished Visiting Writer, University of Minnesota MFA, 2023

  • Winner of the Judith A. Markowitz LAMBDA Literary Award, 2021

  • Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, John Leonard Prize, 2020

  • Finalist for the LAMBDA Literary Award in Lesbian Memoir, 2020

  • New York Times Editors’ Choice, 2019

  • Indies Introduce and Indies Next Pick from the American Booksellers Association, 2019

  • Linda Collins Endowed Residency Award, Yaddo, 2017

  • NYSCA/NYFA, Artist Fellowship in Nonfiction Literature, 2017

Fellowships

Proud member of:

  • NAISA, Native American Indigenous Studies Association

  • Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) Steering Committee of the Five Colleges