UH Hilo English major Kylee Sullivan receives 2017 Matthew Somchai Therrien Memorial Award

Kylee Sullivan is a prolific writer who masters both the rigors of research writing and the originality of creative writing.

Kylee Sullivan with Cambridge buildings in background.
Kylee Sullivan, St. John’s College, Cambridge University. Sullivan attended a conference in London last November. Courtesy photo.

A prolific writer skilled in both research and creative writing is the recipient of the 2017 Matthew Somchai Therrien Memorial Award. Kylee Sullivan, an English major at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, earned the $500 award through her outstanding academic merit, a cumulative grade point average of 3.26, and through demonstrating excellence in writing through published work. She is the third recipient of the award.

Matthew Therrien playing ukulele.
Matthew Therrien

The award is named after the late Matthew S. Therrien, a gifted poet and writer with a dream of becoming an English professor. He was an English major at UH Hilo at the time of his death in 2014. The Matthew Somchai Therrien Memorial Award was initiated by a generous donation made by Stephen and Gloria Gainsley, longtime friends of the Therrien family.

Sullivan has published a research article entitled “A Grimm Evolution” in Hohonu: A Journal of Academic Writing (volume 14, 2016) and a short story, “The Riveter,” in Kanilehua: Art and Literary Magazine (2016). She has presented her research at two international conferences on literature. In March 2016, she gave a paper on “The Causation of Lava: Exploring the Legends Surrounding the Puna Lava Flow” at the Narratives of Place in Literature, Film, and Folklore conference held at Kilauea Military Camp on Hawai‘i Island.

Kirsten Møllegaard
Kirsten Møllegaard

Last November, Sullivan co-wrote and co-presented a paper with Associate Professor of English Kirsten Møllegaard, titled “Intertextual Perspectives on Contemporary Retellings of ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’,” at the International Journal of Arts and Sciences’ (IJAS) conference in London, England.

Sullivan currently serves as a student supervisor at the UH Hilo Mookini Library.

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