After studying and living in many places on the U.S. Mainland and in Europe, Carol Maxym, Ph.D. found her home in Honolulu. She is a psychologist, consultant, author, librettist, activist, mother, and grandmother. Writing Iolani Palace: A Metaphor for Two Centuries of Hawaii History is one of many projects about Hawaii and its history that Dr. Maxym continues to work on. She is the librettist of the opera, The First Lie, which tells the story of the [in]famous Massie case that rocked Honolulu in 1931-32 and reverberates yet today. She and Mac Simpson are also collaborating on a book about the Massie Case.

MacKinnon Simpson grew up a family farm in Pottersville, NJ but has lived in Hawaii for almost half a century. The father of two and tutu kane to a pair of rambunctious grandkids, Simpson has self-identified as a writer since the third grade. In addition to twenty-some books on Hawaii’s history, he has written silliness for the Tiger Magazine, the occasional radio jingle, a computer manual, and all the exhibits for a maritime museum. If there’s a mac keyboard around, he’s likely tapping on it.