Backbends Memoir by Timothy Dyke: Author Talk & Booksigning

Local writer Timothy Dyke debuts Backbends, a memoir filled with honesty and no shortage of self-deprecating hilarity. Joined by kindred humorist Lee Cataluna, Dyke will share the inspiration behind his stories and the process of personal growth and writing stamina required to unleash substantiated TMI (too much information).

Legendary Hawai'i playwright Lee Cataluna refers to Backbends as "a tasty page-turner." Expect a lively conversation sure to entertain and endear us to a poet with parrots, personal secrets, and perceptive insights about his place in the world.

Book signing to follow the Q&A.

About the book Backbends:: My name is TIM and my mode is TMI, too much information." So begins Backbends, the "memoir with lies in it" by Timothy Dyke. How do any of us tell true stories about our experiences when our memories tend to distort and embellish our recollections? How do we describe other people in our lives without being biased or self-serving? When does confession lead to absolution, and when does self-disclosure turn into trauma dumping? In Backbends, the author's collection of autobiographical tales and personal myths, Dyke cracks jokes and raises philosophical questions as he sorts through a lifetime of origin stories and narratives connected to coming out and coming of age.

About the author Timothy Dyke: Timothy Dyke is a writer and teacher who lives with parrots in Makiki, the most population-dense district in Honolulu. He has published a chapbook, a collection of prose poems, and a book-length poem with Tinfish Press. In June of 2025, High Frequency Press published Backbends, his debut memoir. Timothy has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona. For the past thirty-two years, he has taught English to high school students at Punahou School.

About Lee Cataluna: Lee Cataluna's plays include Heart Strings (Atlantic Theater, NYC; Filament Theatre, Chicago), Flowers of Hawaii (Kumu Kahua: Native Voices workshop;Chautauqua Institute; University of Hawaii), and Home of the Brave (La Jolla Playhouse; Honolulu Theatre for Youth.) Commissions include Emalanifor Arena Stage, Super Aunty for the national BIPOC Superhero project, and Sons of Maui, which was a Eugene O'Neill national playwriting finalist. Her work has been supported by NEA grants and the ReImagine TYA/USA grant. She was a member of the inaugural Oregon Shakespeare Festival Indigenous Playwrights Cohort and was part of the 2024 Ojai Playwrights Conference and the 2025 Sparkfest New Plays Festival in Dallas.

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