Rachel Maddow and her team at MS NOW completed the final two episodes of her Burn Order podcast on the wartime incarceration only last Friday, just in time for the series launch before a live audience on Sunday, December 15, at the ornate Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles. Her team invited Satsuki Ina, Lori Bannai, and me to speak on the first of two panels.
Continue reading “BURN ORDER” launches before a live audience in Los Angeles
Many thanks to Rachel Maddow and her team at MS NOW for reaching out to me and others in the community to help connect the dots between the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans and the abductions of non-white immigrants and citizens on the streets of America today. Their six-part podcast series, “Burn Order,” dropped the first two episodes today, preceded by this video trailer:
Continue reading Featured in new Rachel Maddow podcast, “BURN ORDER”
Here is the most detailed story yet from my recent talks on the links between wartime incarceration and the scourge of ICE abductions. 
You should read the story by Kai Curry online at the Northwest Asian Weekly, but it conveys so much that’s important, and so much has changed since I first spoke on this in April, that I’ve shared it in full below. Thanks to the King County Library System and the Bellevue Library branch for centering We Hereby Refuse as their “One Bellevue, One Book.” Continue reading “One Bellevue, One Book:” the links between wartime incarceration and ICE abductions
Before a packed house on February 2 at mam’s books in Seattle Chinatown, I was honored to help launch Criminals, the debut novel by Ben Masaoka of Seattle of a postwar Japanese American family that was published after his recent death.
Continue reading “Criminals,” a novel in the spirit of John Okada
On this date we’re in a strange transitional phase, preparing to defend democracy and civil liberties, books and libraries, history and knowledge and education, as they all come under concerted and coordinated attack in the four years to come. The example and literature of Japanese American resistance to wartime incarceration is more relevant than ever, and the script will continue to be written and rewritten to confront events as they unfold. Without question, we will look back at this time of relative peace and grace with nostalgia and a degree of anger at how we got here. However, we press forward, and here’s what’s on tap for the first half of 2025.
Continue reading Asserting our history and defending civil liberties in 2025
We’re closing out 2024 and the launch of The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration with appreciation for everyone who attended one of our events this year or picked up a copy of our Penguin Classics anthology.
Continue reading Thanks for a great 2024
Just in time for the annual conference this week of the National Council of Teachers of English in Boston, Penguin Random House Education has issued a new Teacher’s Guide to accompany our new Penguin Classics anthology of The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration. You can download it for free as a ten-page PDF.
Continue reading Teachers Guide for “The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration”
It’s gratifying to see our Penguin Classics anthology continue to find its audience. We were recently contacted for interviews for a poetry podcast and three online Q and A’s.
Continue reading Online interviews and a podcast for Penguin anthology
Listen to the audiobook for The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration and I guarantee you will come away with an entirely fresh experience of the writings we’ve presented in our new Penguin Classics anthology. Order it here or ask your local public library to order it for you.
Continue reading Audiobook readers bring “The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration” to life
The weather is turning, and it appears to be time to hit the road again starting this weekend, mostly to promote the new Penguin anthology but also to meet continuing interest in the graphic novel and camp resistance in general. Here’s the list as it stands today of in-person and virtual speaking events for this fall, including serving as headliner for the Densho annual fundraiser. Check the Events page for further updates.
Continue reading Excavating Stories and Unearthing History in Fall 2024
