Abstract: Local writers of Hawai'i have produced a distinctive body of literature, particularly since 1978, the year of a seminal 'Talk Story' Conference. In Hawai'i the term 'Local' has complex cultural meanings: a 'Local' is a person who could be of Native Hawaiian heritage, or a descendent of Asian or other immigrants brought to the Islands to work the sugar plantations, or most often a person of mixed heritage, but in any case not a member of the white cultural elite, the military, or a tourist. Defining the nature, conditions, and variety of Local life has been a project of most Local writers. To study the growing body of Local literature one must first study the role of Local publishers---for example, Bamboo Ridge and its attendant periodical of the same name---in providing opportunity and continuing support. Then one must consider the central role of Place in most Local literature, beginning with the unique geography of the Islands themselves. Two generations of hapa (part) Native Hawaiian fiction writers have focused upon the importance of the land and continuation of Native traditions. Other writers, predominantly of Asian ancestry, explore the Local cultural scene, in stories ranging from pre-WWII plantation life to a more recent globalized Hawai'i. Closely related to Place is the use of Pidgin (officially, Hawai'i Creole English), the distinct Hawai'i dialect spoken by Locals; many writers have used Pidgin not only in dialogue but as a mode of discourse in stories and even essays. Finally, to understand the current condition of Local literature, one must examine the growing body of Local critical discourse, centered around debates over multiculturalism, political and cultural colonization, and the question of who should have the right to speak as a Local.