Two early reviews, a podcast, and a Facebook Live video. First, thanks go to Edgar-Award winning novelist Naomi Hirahara for taking the time to comment on our book.
“Nikkei literary pioneer re-examined“ reviewed by Naomi Hirahara, Nichi Bei Weekly, July 19. 2018
It’s an extremely readable book, a must-have companion piece to Okada’s novel … Abe, who lives in Okada’s early stomping grounds of Seattle, wrote the precise, well-researched 100-page biography of the author.
It was an honor to be recommended by Jeff Fleischer at “Foreword Reviews.” a journal for the independent book trade that is dedicated to the “art” of book reviewing. “Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love,” they say, and they cater to independent bookstores; the small press buying department at Barnes & Noble; the small press buyers at Costco; and librarian subscribers including those in LA, San Francisco, New York, Dallas, Denver, Chicago, and Detroit.
“John Okada,” reviewed by Jeff Fleischer, Foreward Reviews magazine, summer 2018
The book begins with a detailed biography of the author by Frank Abe … This is a strong compilation, mixing Okada’s writing with copious analysis of it, and telling a story of his life that both echoes and informs his best-known work.”
Podcast fans can hear the story of how Frank Chin, Shawn Wong, Lawson Inada, and Jeff Chan first rediscovered and republished No-No Boy, and how that set us on the four-decades-long journey in search of John Okada. I had a fun conversation with Stephanie Bastek at The American Scholar, a quarterly journal of literature, science and culture published for a general readership since 1932. “Who saved the book—and what was lost—is a story fit for legend. Listen to Frank Abe—who was there!—tell the tale on our podcast.”
Finally, here is the saved Facebook Live video of my Aug. 8 performance at Hing Hay Park in Seattle Chinatown for the Wing Luke Asian Museum’s “It Happened Here” series — weaving together the real events from the life of John Okada with the imagined world of postwar Seattle in No-No Boy. Thanks to all who came out to listen on a hot day at the heart of Maynard and King, where so many of the events in the novel collide.