Lurline Wailana McGregor is a writer, filmmaker, administrator and paddler from

Hawai'i Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. McGregor's ancestors were Hawaiian,

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

, and Scottish. She was named after the ocean liner , where her parents first met. In 1986 McGregor joined the staff of Senator

Daniel Inouye Daniel Ken Inouye ( ; September 7, 1924 – December 17, 2012) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Hawaii from 1963 until his death in 2012. Beginning in 1959, he was the first U.S. representative f ...

where she focused on Native American issues. McGregor has been active in sailing and paddling since the 1990s. She filmed a documentary about her journey aboard the ''

Hōkūleʻa ''Hōkūlea'' is a performance-accurate ''waa kaulua'', a Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe. Launched on 8 March 1975 by the Polynesian Voyaging Society, it is best known for its 1976 Hawaii to Tahiti voyage completed with exclusiv ...

'', a double hulled voyaging canoe. The 58 minute film was shown at the 2001

Newport Beach Film Festival The Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) is an annual film festival in Newport Beach, California, typically held in late April. In 2022, it was announced that the festival have permanently changed its date to be held in October, as the festival beg ...

. Later she was CEO and president of 'Ōlelo Community Television, a non-profit access-provider in

O'ahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O’ ...

, where she helped establish NATV 53, a channel for native Hawaiian content. In 2008 she authored ''Between the Deep Blue Sea and Me''. The hopeful novel was inspired by the New Zealand film ''

Whale Rider ''Whale Rider'' is a 2002 New Zealand Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Niki Caro. Based on the 1987 novel ''The Whale Rider'' by Witi Ihimaera, the film stars Keisha Castle-Hughes as Kahu Paikea Apirana, a twelve- ...

'' and tells of a Hawaiian-born anthropologist forced to choose between her career on the mainland and her ancestral responsibilities. It deals with themes of activism, politics, and the

Hawaiian sovereignty movement The Hawaiian sovereignty movement ( haw, ke ea Hawaiʻi), is a grassroots political and cultural campaign to re-establish an autonomous or independent nation or kingdom of Hawaii due to desire for sovereignty, self-determination, and self-gove ...

. Despite the adult protagonist, the novel appeals to young adult readers and won the 2010

American Indian Youth Literature Award The ''American Indian Library Association American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United ...

for Best Young Adult Book.

References

External links

* Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Novelists from Hawaii American people of Native Hawaiian descent Hawaii people of Chinese descent American documentary filmmakers American women documentary filmmakers Native Hawaiian writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers Film directors from Hawaii {{Hawaii-stub