Rodney Morales

Who is Rodney Morales?

Rodney Morales is an American fiction writer and an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Hawaii. In his writing, he is concerned with contemporary multi-ethnic Hawaiian society, particularly the social relations between Hawaiians of native, Japanese, and Puerto Rican descent; the 1970s Hawaiian independence movement and the disappearance of its leader, George Helm; and the postmodern juxtaposition of popular artistic forms and high literature.

Morales wrote his only novel, When the Shark Bites, over a six-year period. He says, "I don't think you can be a good teacher, writing all the time." The novel is a modern-day detective story in which a doctoral student, Alika, investigates the mysterious disappearance of native Hawaiian activist Keoni in the late 1970s.