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“Sacred Vows,” a bilingual reading in Khmer and English by U Sam Oeur, will be held Tues., April 10, 2007, at 3:30 p.m. in Kuykendall 410, on the UH-Manoa Campus.

U Sam Oeur grew up in a Cambodian farming family. After studying in the U.S., he served in the Cambodian government. When Pol Pot assumed power in 1975, U Sam Oeur, along with his wife and son, survived the killing fields in six forced-labor camps by feigning illiteracy.

His highly acclaimed book of poetry, Sacred Vows, recalls the terror of those years and the beauty of Cambodia’s resilient culture. U Sam Oeur’s reading style is mesmerizing, emotionally charged, and operatic, combining song and chant and a full range of tones.

This event is sponsored by UHM Center for Southeast Asian Studies, TinFish, MANOA, Manoa Foundation, and UHM Dept. of English.

Haruki Murakami will read on Thursday, April 26, 2007, at 7:30 p.m. in the Campus Center Ballroom of the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.

Murakami is one of the most widely translated Japanese novelists, having built an international following with his daringly original fiction. He is best known for the novels Kafka on the Shore (2005) and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1999). His latest short-story collection, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (2006), has been awarded the 2007 Kiriyama Prize.

This event is sponsored by the UHM Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures; UHM College of Languages, Linguistics, and Literature; Bruce Arinaga; UH Distinguished Lecture Series; Hawai‘i Literary Arts Council; and MANOA. For information, e-mail MANOA at mjournal-l@hawaii.edu or call 956-8805.