John Dominis Holt IV (June 4, 1919 – March 29, 1993)[1] was an American and Native Hawaiian writer, poet and cultural historian.

His paternal grandfather was Colonel John Dominis Holt II, an officer of King Kalākaua and Queen Liliuokalani's military staff.

Other ancestors include Lucien Bonaparte, the younger brother of French Emperor Napoleon, and British Admiral Lord George Paulet.

The spirit of old Hawaii that he learned from family traditions and childhood tales of the monarchy became incorporated into the stories he wrote as an adult.

[3][7] Below is an excerpt from this essay: Statistically I am part-Hawaiian; although I was reminded one night at a dinner party by a charming, mathematically astute lady, who descends from two prominent early missionary couples, that I am actually three-eighths Hawaiian by blood.

My ancestors here included a Spanish rancher; a part-Corsican, part-Tahitian alii woman; an American missionary couple originally from Holden, Massachusetts; a British earl; a Boston businessman; and Hawaiians from both the high-ranking and the lesser, the kau-kau alii, who came originally from the islands of Maui and Hawaii.

I am, in depth, a product of Hawaii–an American, yes, who is a citizen of the fiftieth State, but I am also a Hawaiian; somewhat by blood, and in large measure by sentiment.

[8] He and his second wife Patches worked as activists in the Hawaiian community, fighting against rapid development on the island of Oahu.