BOOK TALKS, PLAY READINGS, and FILM SCREENINGS
TOKYO, JAPAN via Zoom
Thursday, June 25, 2026, 4:00 pm PST
Seijo University
Speaking via Zoom to students of Prof. Yoko Tsukuda who have been reading We Hereby Refuse as part of their class in English.
KLAMATH FALLS, OR
Sunday, July 5, 2026, time TBA
2026 Tule Lake Pilgrimage
“The Lim Report in the 21st century, and what it says to us today”
Oregon Institute of Technology
Was segregation at Tule Lake conducted at the suggestion of the wartime Japanese American Citizens League? That was one of many troubling questions examined in the research report on JACL’s wartime policies and actions compiled in 1990 by attorney Deborah Lim. Moderator Frank Abe will take us inside the origins of that report, activist Chizu Omori will reflect upon the report’s findings, and Tule Lake descendant/Norman Y. Mineta Policy Fellow Katie Masano Hill will speak to how a new generation at JACL is addressing this difficult legacy.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
July 2026 TBD
Summer Teachers Institute: Fragile Freedoms: Lessons Learned -Regional Perspectives on WWII Confinement Sites
National Japanese American Historical Society
Presidio of San Francisco
Speaking to educators at a week-long workshop on the inquiry question: “How did men and women assert their rights under WWII exclusion and confinement? How can we apply these equal protections today?” In partnership with the National Writing Project.
2027
PUYALLUP, WA
Saturday, January 30, 2027, 10:00 am
Puyallup Valley JACL Day of Remembrance
Washington State Fairgrounds
Expo Hall
Keynote address for the 2027 Day of Remembrance and 85th anniversary of Executive Order 9066, recapping the why, how, impact, and legacy of the very first Day of Remembrance car caravan from Seattle for a program in the Expo Hall.
SEATTLE, WA
Saturday, May 22, 2027, 3:00-500 pm
Gold Watch 50-year retrospective and documentary screening
Nippon-kan Theater
Forty-nine years ago Garrett Hongo brought me back to Seattle to stage-manage Momoko Iko’s Gold Watch, which he was directing for his Asian Exclusion Act. Nine-year old Kelly Goto played the child. She’s now all grown up and a fellow author at Chin Music Press and she’s interviewing all of us for a documentary and getting the gang back together for a reunion at Seattle’s historic Nippon-kan Theater. Save the date and learn more here.
PAST EVENTS
PORTLAND, OR
Saturday, May 16, 2026, 1:00 pm
Japanese American Museum of Oregon
“Lines of Resistance: Graphic Storytelling, Minidoka, and the Memory of Incarceration”
220 NW 2nd Avenue
Kelly Goto and Frank Abe will explore how graphic storytelling gives voice to the lived experiences of Japanese Americans incarcerated at Minidoka during WWII. Award-winning journalist Lori Matsukawa will moderate. Set against JAMO’s Minidoka on Our Minds exhibit, this conversation considers how drawn lines—ink on paper—become acts of remembrance and conscience. How does art help us see Minidoka not only as history, but as lived experience? What lessons about civil liberties and belonging continue to resonate today? Free RSVP here.
SEATTLE, WA
Saturday, May 9, 2026, 10:45 am
Walking tour of John Okada’s Chinatown
University of Washington Humanities First program
Seattle’s Chinatown/International District
For the fifth year, I’ll be taking the UW’s freshman core program, Humanities First, on a walking tour of John Okada’s Chinatown, with a stop at the Panama Hotel and ending with lunch at the Bruce Lee table at Tai Tung restaurant.
PODCAST LAUNCH
Thursday, May 7, 2026
History for the Reckoning podcast – “American Concentration Camps: The Story of WWII Japanese Incarceration”
Episode 5 -“Stand up to unjust authority”
on all podcast platforms
A new podcast produced by Spencer Ford of Salt Lake City, focusing in the first season on the camps. He buttonholed me at the 2024 JAMP Topaz Pilgrimage and convinced me of his interest in the story of Frank Emi and the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee. We recorded our conversation in July 2025. You can listen to it on all podcast platforms and on YouTube, and here:
POINT REYES STATION, CA
Wednesday, April 29, 2026, 4:00-5:00 PDT
KWMR-FM 90.5 – West Marin Community Radio
“Mesa Refuge Interviews“
Live interview with host Lyons Filmer on her biweekly program talking with each biweekly cohort of writing residents at Mesa Refuge. I think Claire Evans, Saiba Varma, and I will just walk down the hill to the studio in town.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA via Zoom
Saturday, April 25, 2026, 10:25 am
Visioning meeting for Fragile Freedoms: Lessons Learned – Regional Perspectives on WWII Confinement Sites
National Japanese American Historical Society
Speaking with Satsuki Ina and Chizu Omori at a mini think-tank of teachers and organizations to plan the theme and development of a three-year national series of hands-on, interactive, intensive professional development trainings on the incarceration for 500 classroom educators and 50 next-generation leaders, in partnership with the National Writing Project.
POINT REYES STATION, CA
April 17-30, 2026
Mesa Refuge writers’ residency
Two weeks at Mesa Refuge, a writers’ retreat located in a wildlife sanctuary in West Marin focused on social justice, environmental justice and economic equity. My stay is underwritten by a fellowship from the Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation.
SEATTLE, WA
Wednesday, April 8, 2026, 7:00 pm
“One Book, One Coast: Frank Abe on The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration and what it shows us today”
Seattle Central Library
Microsoft Auditorium 
A program for The Seattle Public Library to feature The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration and what it tells about what’s happening today as part of the “One Book, One Coast” shared reading program out of the L.A. Public Library. With moderator Tom Ikeda, retired founder of Densho. Free registration here.
HONOLULU, HI
Thursday, April 2, 2026, 2:10-3:40 pm HT
Association for Asian American Studies annual conference
“Democracy at Stake: What Asian American History Teaches Us About Racial Discrimination, the Law, and Abuses of Power in Trump’s America”
Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort
Iolani III
Addressing the links between wartime incarceration and today. With Lori Bannai on “The Law and Nikkei Incarceration, Past and Present,” Gabriel Jack Chin on “Equality Before the Law? What Anti-Asian Discrimination Teaches Us About Racism and the American Legal System Today,” Frank Abe on “What Japanese American Wartime Incarceration Tells Us About Mass Deportation Today,” and panel chair Jonathan van Harmelen. More in the Facebook Event.
VANCOUVER, BC via Zoom
Monday, March 23, 2026, 2:30-3:50 pm
Simon Fraser University
Speaking to Greg Robinson’s class on “Nikkei Experience in North America” while he’s teaching at Simon Fraser University. Could be in-person or via zoom depending on the safety of crossing the border.
SEATTLE, WA
Saturday, March 21, 2026, 10:45-11:45 am
“Teaching ‘Difficult’ Histories: Japanese American Incarceration During World War II“
Densho, 1416 S. Jackson St.
A full-day, in-person professional learning workshop to introduce Seattle-area high school educators to the new UCLA Digital Toolkit, Foundations and Futures. Co-presented by Densho and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center. Space is limited to 25 participants. A short application is required.
SEATTLE, WA
Tuesday, March 10, 2026, 7:30 pm
“Safe Passage: The Exchange of American and Japanese Civilians by Sea”
Town Hall Seattle, The Wyncote NW Forum
1119 8th Ave. (entrance off Seneca St.)
I’m very happy to moderate the book launch for fellow AAJA member and Pulitzer Prize-winner Evelyn Iritani on the day of publication of her new work, Safe Passage: The Untold Story of Diplomatic Intrigue, Betrayal, and the Exchange of American and Japanese Civilians by Sea During World War II, from Farrar, Straus and Giroux. We had a lively and very timely conversation, and you can hear it all here:
SEATTLE, WA
Saturday, March 7, 2026, 11:00 am
“Read and Run on the Road: Book Club Run of No-No Boy”
Panama Hotel and Tea House
Meeting over coffee with runners who’ve completed a three-mile run around downtown and the waterfront to share the legacy of John Okada’s No-No Boy and the story of wartime incarceration in Seattle Japantown. The forecast calls for an Okada kind of day: “the sort of morning that non-Seattleites are always ascribing to Seattle — wet without being really wet.” Rescheduled from an earlier date.
ONLINE MASS CALL
Thursday, March 5, 2026, 4:00 pm PT/7:00 pm ET
The 50501 Movement
RSVP for the link
I will join with The 50501 Movement, the people who bring you the “No Kings” marches, for this mass call on stopping 21st century American concentration camps through the leasing of existing warehouses across America. I’m honored to help introduce and learn from Andrea Pitzer, author of “One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps.” Video cued to start:
SAN JOSE, CA
Sunday, February 22, 2026, 11:30 am -12:40 pm
Northern California Films of Remembrance
Opening program: “Loyalty Questioned”
San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin, 640 N. 5th Street
Moderating a discussion with filmmakers Emiko Omori, Barbara Takei, and Kayla Ling, following the screening of their films “Defiant to the Last: Resistance at the Tule Lake Jail” and “The Most Loyal ‘Traitor.'”
PORTLAND, OR
Monday, February 16, 2026, 2:00 pm and 6:30 pm
50th anniversary screenings of Farewell to Manzanar
Winningstad Theatre
For Portland’s Day of Remembrance, Carole Hayashino and I will speak on panels following two screenings of the 1976 TV-movie directed by John Korty, based on the book by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston. Sponsored by Portland JACL, the Japanese American Museum of Oregon, and Portland’5 Centers for the Arts.
FACEBOOK LIVE EVENT
Wednesday, February 4, 2026, 5:00 pm PT
“American Stories: A Reading Road Trip to Washington State“
PBS Books and the Library of Congress
I join other locals in sharing the story of writers shaped by their time in the Pacific Northwest, in my case the legacies of novelist John Okada and playwright August Wilson. Here’s the full program:
SEATTLE, WA
Saturday, January 10, 2026, 1:00 pm
“Remembrance: Felt Flowers Honoring World War II Incarcerees”
MOHAI – the Museum of History and Industry
Microsoft Lakefront Pavilion
Introductory remarks on Ada Mahon, the beloved principal of Bailey Gatzert Elementary who was remembered so fondly by John Okada and Monica Sone, in advance of Tadaima: Bringing Seattle’s Boys’ and Girls’ Day Dolls Home, an exhibit of the Hinamatsuri dolls that were placed in her care by families forcibly removed to camp. Registration is now full for the workshop and my talk.
2025
MS NOW
Monday, December 29, 2025, 9:00 pm ET/6:00 pm PT
“Rachel Maddow Presents: Burn Order” launch event special
A special cablecast of the live launch event recorded in Los Angles on December 14. Satsuki Ina, Lorrie Bannai, and I appear in the first of two panel discussions onstage, linking the wartime incarceration to the authoritarian actions on the street today. The event launched Maddow’s new six-part podcast on the time “the US military deployed on the streets of America” to forcibly remove a targeted minority.
SEATTLE, WA
Monday, December 15, 2025, 7:30 pm
“We Hold These Truths” live radio broadcast
Town Hall Seattle
The Wyncote NW Forum
1119 8th Ave. (entrance off Seneca St.)
Reading several parts in a very timely live radio broadcast recreating the 1941 Bill of Rights celebration radio show “We Hold These Truths,” a long form poem by Norman Corwin. Says producer Feliks Banel, the original broadcast was “in the works long before Pearl Harbor and aired as planned on all four radio networks on Monday, December 15, 1941 – the 150th anniversary of the Bill of Rights. The original show ended with FDR condemning Hitler in a live speech.” I’ll also take part in a pre-show discussion at 7:30 pm. Presented by Town Hall Seattle, SPACE 101.1 FM, and Cascade of History. Listen to the full broadcast here:
LOS ANGELES, CA
Sunday, December 14, 2025, 5:00 pm
Live launch for “Rachel Maddow Presents: Burn Order”
The Orpheum Theater
842 S. Broadway
Launch event for the new Rachel Maddow podcast with a live audience. The plan is for Satsuki Ina, Lori Bannai and I to join Rachel on stage to talk about the material in the podcast, how the history informs our current moment, and how people can fight back. The theater is now sold out but the event will be recorded for cablecast on MS NOW on December 29. See my blog post about it here.
SEATTLE, WA
Sunday, December 7, 2025, 8:40 pm PT
“Cascade of History” hosted by Feliks Banel
SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle
I’ll be joining Feliks Banel on his “Cascade of History” broadcast on what December 7th means for Japanese Americans and look ahead to the live radio recreation of Norman Corwin’s “We Hold These Truths” which aired in 1941 the week after Pearl Harbor. Tune in live to SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle, broadcasting from Magnuson Park.
MS NOW
Monday, December 1, 2025
“Rachel Maddow Presents: Burn Order”
on all podcast platforms
Cable news host Rachel Maddow has a new six-part podcast on the time “the US military deployed on the streets of America” to forcibly remove a targeted minority. I’m told I appear in all six episodes and am featured in Part 2. The first two eps drop on December 1, Satsuki Ina and Lori Bannai are also featured, along with Ken Ringle Jr. and Peter Irons. See this 30-second TV trailer and listen to the two-minute audio trailer. See my blog post about it here.
PORT TOWNSEND, WA
November 3-17, 2025
Centrum Foundation artist-in-residence
Fort Worden State Park
Two weeks as an artist-in-residence to continue work on rewrites for the No-No Boy stage adaptation.
PESSAC, FRANCE
Thursday, November 13, 2025, 7:50 am PT
International Colloquium: “Los Angeles and the Japanese-American Incarceration Camps: an intergenerational, transnational and intermedial history in tribute to Amy Uyematsu“
Université Bordeaux Montaigne
Speaking via Zoom for this transnational conference in France, I’ll be in conversation with Brynn Saito with my part of the talk given the title of ““Activism and the epic narrative of camp as expressed through the graphic novel We Hereby Refuse, the Penguin Classics anthology The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration, the film Conscience and the Constitution, and his new theatrical adaptation of John Okada’s No-No Boy.”” See the program in French.
MERCER ISLAND, WA
Friday, October 17, 2025, 10:00-11:00 am
French American School of Puget Sound
3795 E. Mercer Way
Speaking to incoming middle school students at the French American School who for the second year have been assigned We Hereby Refuse for their summer reading. An honor to have our book used to open their school year.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Tuesday, September 23, 2025, 12:30-1:45 pm
San Francisco State University
AAS 330 – “Nikkei in the United States”
Speaking via Zoom on how I first came across the work of John Okada and why his life and legacy have been so important to me. I’ll also speak about Japanese American advocacy and writing and how I’ve navigated different periods of my career, working across genres from journalism to theater, with students of Cassie Miura in the AAS 330 course on “Nikkei in the United States.”
SEATTLE, WA
Friday, August 22, 2025, 1:00-3:00 pm
Kinetic West staff training
Pioneer Sqaure
A private staff training for the social impact consulting firm, Kinetic West, for one of their quarterly Equity Deep Dives, followed by a walking tour of Seattle Chinatown, the Panama Hotel, and Nihonmachi Alley.
BELLEVUE, WA
Saturday, August 9, 2025, 2:00-3:30 pm
ONE BELLEVUE, ONE BOOK: “What Japanese American Wartime Incarceration Tells Us About Mass Deportation Today”
Bellevue Library
1111 110th Avenue NE
We’re honored to have We Hereby Refuse selected to inaugurate the “One Bellevue, One Book” program, with reading, discussion, and engagement with the book and its themes in the four branches of the King County Library System in the city of Bellevue, east of Seattle. I’ll speak at the Bellevue Library on the connections between past and present and sign copies afterward. See my blog post about it here.
SEATTLE, WA
Saturday, August 2, 2025, 2:00-3:30 pm
Seattle CID tour for AAJA Convention
Taking visiting Asian American journalists from across the country around Chinatown and what was once Japantown, with Ron Chew.
SEATTLE, WA
Thursday, July 31, 2025, 6:00 pm
AAJA 2025 Seattle Chapter 40th Anniversary Reception
Wing Luke Asian Museum
Signing all of my books along with other Seattle chapter founders and authors Lori Matsukawa and Ron Chew at the chapter reception for journalists coming to town for the National AAJA convention.
OAKLAND, CA
Sunday, June 22, 2025, 9:00-10:30 am
“What Japanese American Wartime Incarceration Tells Us About Mass Deportation Today”
Changing Perspectives on Japanese American Incarceration conference
Oakland Asian Cultural Center
For this conference on Tule Lake organized by Chizu Omori in partnership with Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages, I will relate the material in We Hereby Refuse and The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration to the current abuse of government authority targeting people on the margins with exclusion, removal, and deportation. Here’s the full presentation:
BRONX, NY
Thursday, May 15, 2025, 10:20-11:05 am
Seminar in Literary Studies
Horace Mann School
231 West 246th Street
Baruth Room, Room 143T
Presenting The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration and We Hereby Refuse to high school seniors in the Seminar in Literary Studies studying “Man’s Search for Meaning in Literature and Film,” taught by Deborah Kassel, a former NEH fellow at the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation summer workshop.
NEW YORK, NY
Tuesday, May 13, 2025, 6:00 pm
Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College
City University of New York
47-49 East 65th Street
Floyd Cheung and I will present The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration with moderator Cathlin Goulding and readings from four selections by student actors from Hunter College, at the New York City home of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, “where some of the most iconic public policy of the 20th century was shaped” — including perhaps his Executive Order 9066? This in-person event was also livestreamed:
SEATTLE, WA
Saturday, May 10, 2025, 10:45 am
Walking tour of John Okada’s Chinatown
University of Washington Humanities First program
Seattle’s Chinatown/International District
For the fourth year, I’ll be taking the UW’s freshman core program, Humanities First, on a walking tour of John Okada’s Chinatown, with a stop at the Panama Hotel and ending with lunch at the Bruce Lee table at Tai Tung restaurant.
SEATTLE, WA
Thursday, May 8, 2025, 7:30 pm
Public reading of a new stage adaptation of No-No Boy
Seattle Rep
PONCHO Forum, Seattle Center
A public reading of the work-in-progress of a new stage adaptation of John Okada’s No-No Boy, which will follow a four-day script workshop with Equity actors. Sorry, tickets for the 114-seat PONCHO Forum are now sold out. See the blog post about it.
WELLESLEY, MA
Tuesday, April 22, 2025, 4:30-6:00 pm
“What Japanese American Wartime Incarceration Tells Us About Mass Deportation Today”
Wellesley College
Pendleton Atrium
A public talk in which I will relate the material in the graphic novel, We Hereby Refuse, and the anthology, The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration, to the current abuse of government authority targeting people on the margins with erasure, removal, and deportation. Thanks to Elena Creef for hosting.
BOSTON, MA
Thursday, April 17, 2025, 10:00-11:30 am
Association for Asian American Studies annual conference
The Westin Boston Seaport District
425 Summer Street, Carlton Room
I’ll reflect on a 50-year journey of reinterpreting camp history and, in particular, my current project to adapt John Okada’s No-No Boy for the stage, on the panel, “Interpreting Japanese American Incarceration in the 21st Century Through Alternative Methods.” Our panel features the powerful lineup of Elena Tajima Creef, Dr, Erin Aoyama, Dr. Hana Maruyama, and chair Julia Shizuyo Popham. See the Facebook Event.
SEATTLE, WA
Thursday, April 10, 2025, 7:00 pm
The Gate of Memory book launch
Elliott Bay Book Company
I will moderate editors Brynn Saito and Brandon Shimoda for the Seattle launch of The Gate of Memory: Poems by Descendants of Nikkei Wartime Incarceration. We’ll need a lot of chairs, as the evening will also feature readings from local poets Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi, Sharon Hashimoto, Tamiko Nimura, and Troy Osaki. Preorder it now from Haymarket Books. Get free tickets here.
SEATTLE, WA
Saturday, March 1, 2025, 6:00 pm
AAJA Seattle Lunar New Year 2025 Banquet
Washington Hall
Saying a few words about the founding of the Seattle chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association on its 40th anniversary, with a nod to the obligation they face reporting the news today.
NEW YORK, NY
Tuesday, February 25, 2025, 6:00-8:30 pm
screening of Conscience and the Constitution
Center on Asian Americans and the Law at Fordham Law School
Gabelli Business School
McNally Theater, First Floor, 140 W 62nd St.
The Center on Asian Americans and the Law at Fordham Law School is screening Conscience and the Constitution, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Judge Denny Chin and featuring Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto, Kathy Hirata Chin, and Professor Thomas Lee. More details and RSVP here.
SAN JOSE, CA
Sunday, February 23, 2025, 4:45-6:00 pm
2025 Films of Remembrance
“Taking a Stand” program
San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin
I’m pleased to support this year’s Films of Remembrance by moderating the Q&A in San Jose following the “Taking A Stand” program of three films on camp resistance: “Jim Matsuoka Will Not Be Rushed,” by Robert Shoji; “The United States vs Takahashi Hoshizaki,” by Greg Sommers-Herivel; and “Row Don’t Drift,” by Karina E. Turner. Tickets here.
VASHON, WA
Sunday, February 23, 2025, 2:00-4:00 pm
DOR screening of Conscience and the Constitution
Mukai Farm & Garden
18017 107th SW
Thanks to Friends of Mukai for screening our film for their annual Day of Remembrance program, accompanied with a post-film discussion. See the commentary by Rita Brogan and Bruce Haulman in the Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber that makes the connection between the story in the film and threat to immigrants of mass deportations today.SEATTLE, WA
Sunday, February 16, 2025, 8:00-8:20 pm PT
“Cascade of History” hosted by Feliks Banel
SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle
I’ll be joining Feliks Banel on his “Cascade of History” broadcast to talk for 20 minutes about the Pike Place Market Foundation knuckling under to fear and backing out of a planned Day of Remembrance event there. Tune in live to SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle, broadcasting from Magnuson Park.
SEATTLE, WA
Sunday, February 2, 2025, 2:00-4:00 pm
tribute to Ben Masaoka and Criminals
mam’s books
608 Maynard Ave. S.
A panel discussion and celebration of Ben Masaoka’s remarkable novel, Criminals, published posthumously by Propeller Books of Portland. I’ll read a passage from the novel and pay tribute to the late author along with Carla Crujido, Lucy Tan, Bruce Rutledge, and Dan DeWeese.
2024
SEATTLE, WA
Saturday, November 2, 2024, 9:30-11:00 am
Cascadia Poetry Festival 8
“Issei Zen & Other Migrations”
Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave.
I’m no writer of poems, but Floyd and I curate them in The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration, and I’ll share some of them at this annual poetry festival on the panel, “Issei Zen & Other Migrations,” with fellow panelists Barbara Johns, Sharon Hashimoto, Claudia Castro Luna, and Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs. Moderated by Jason Wirth. Registration and schedule here.
BOISE, ID
Tuesday, October 22, 2024, 10:00-11:30 am
One Stone high school 
Speaking to students of Jun Campion about We Hereby Refuse and the graphic form via Zoom for what’s billed as Idaho’s most innovative high school.
SEATTLE, WA
Monday, October 21, 2024, 7:00 pm
Third Place Books, Seward Park
An informal conversation at my go-to neighborhood haunt with University of Washington professor Vince Schleitwiler around The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration. Free tickets here.
SACRAMENTO, CA
Wednesday, October 16, 2024, 5:30-8:00 pm
The Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society
“They Refused: Two Views on Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration”
Kennedy Learning Center, Robert T. Matsui U.S. Courthouse
501 I Street, Room 4-200 and virtually over Zoom
A joint program on reframing the story of Tule Lake with filmmaker Sharon Yamato showing her new film, “One Fighting Irishmen,” with me following up with the Tule Lake story in We Hereby Refuse and The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration, on a panel moderated by 
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Kara Ueda. We will speak at the Matsui Federal Courthouse in the Kennedy Learning Center, where panels from the graphic novel are currently on display. Sponsored by The Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society, the Eastern District of California Historical Society, the Sacramento Federal Bar Association, and the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law. The discussion was recorded, although I was asked to re-record my opening presentation due to a technical issue:
SAN DIEGO, CA
Tuesday, October 15, 2024, 12:00-1:00 pm
Southwestern College
Room 61A-103
Presenting We Hereby Refuse at a lunchtime series on how memory haunts us and comes to talk to us in the present, for students of Prof. J.A. Ruanto-Ramirez who are working on their own mini-graphic memoir for their final.
SAN DIEGO, CA
Sunday, October 13, 2024, 2:00-3:30 pm
San Diego book launch
San Diego Public Library
Shiley Special Events Suite
Central Library, 330 Park Blvd.
Join me at the downtown central San Diego Public Library for a discussion of The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration in conversation with UC San Diego Ethnic Studies Professor Christen Sasaki. This event is co-sponsored with the Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego. Audience Q&A will follow. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing. Free registration here.
LOS ANGELES, CA
Saturday, October 12, 2024, 2:00 pm
Los Angeles book launch
Japanese American National Museum
Tateuchi Democracy Forum
For the Los Angeles book launch of The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration, Floyd Cheung and I will be in conversation with Densho’s Brian Niiya. The program will also feature selections from the anthology read by three of the LA-based readers for our audiobook: Keone Young, traci kato-kiriyama, and Ren Hanami. Free with museum admission, tickets here.
SEATTLE, WA
Thursday, October 10, 2024, 5:30-7:00 pm PT
Densho annual virtual fundraiser
“Unearthing History: Planting the Seeds for Densho’s Legacy“
“Join Densho for our 2024 Virtual Fundraiser! Tune in on October 10th from 5:30 – 7:00 PM PT for an evening of dialogue, shared learning, and reflection featuring as we dig deeper into our history and continue planting the seeds for a lasting legacy. You’re invited to listen in as we are joined by honored guests Frank Abe, Floyd Cheung, and Andrew Leong. Each offers unique insights into some of the lesser-known stories they’ve brought to light through the process of translating, compiling and editing their new anthology The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration. This powerful anthology serves as a grounding reminder there are still aspects of this history we’ve yet to unearth.” Watch the recording of the livestream and support Densho here.
LOS ANGELES, CA
Sunday, October 6, 2024, 9:00 am
Japanese American Confinement Sites Consortium 2024 education conference
“Excavation: The Process of Storytelling”
Japanese American National Museum
At this annual conference of national thought leaders and experts, we will screen Sharon Yamato’s “One Fighting Irishman,” followed by a panel focusing on the ways in which we are mining the Tule Lake 
Segregation Center for its many untold and/or misrepresented stories. With Tule Lake Committee chair Hiroshi Shimizu, Tule Lake Stockade Diary publisher Kyoko Oda, and We Hereby Refuse lead author and The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration co-editor Frank Abe. We will talk about our own personal methodologies and processes.
FRESNO, CA
Thursday, September 26, 2024, 12:00 pm
“Comics and Graphic Novels” class
California State University, Fresno
Speaking about We Hereby Refuse virtually with students of Prof. Alison Mandaville in her English 193 “Comics and Graphic Novels” class, as part of their lunchtime comics makers series. We’ll talk about the process of creating a documentary visual narrative in the form of a graphic novel.
OLYMPIA, WA
Wednesday, September 18, 2024, 11:15 am
Washington Attorney General’s Office CLE
“Never Again Is Now: Japanese American resistance to wartime incarceration and what it means to us today”
Speaking via Zoom to assistant state attorneys general across the state of Washington on wartime incarceration, the law, and redress for a 60-minute Continuing Legal Education diversity program focused on “Combatting Exclusion.”
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, WA
Saturday, September 14, 2024, 10:50-11:30 am
National Asians and Pacific Islander American Historic Preservation Forum
Bainbridge Island Rowing Center
“Making Monuments through Storytelling: Beyond the Barbed Wire”
I’ll help introduce Beyond the Barbed Wire: Japanese American Stories of the Pacific Northwest, a web-based project for Friends of Minidoka that combines narration, oral histories, and visual content into online tours that create virtual “monuments.” The first tour is Resisters of the Pacific Northwest, for 
which we’re incorporating the stories of Jim and Gene Akutsu, John Okada, and the first-ever Day of Remembrance at Puyallup. We’ll present at the new Bainbridge Island Rowing Center facility, ahead of a group tour of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial.
IDAHO
September 10-12, 2024
Friends of Minidoka
“Nisei Trials: 80 Years” Distinguished Lecture series
— Twin Falls — College of Southern Idaho, Sept. 10, 7:30-9:30 pm
Free registration here.
— Idaho Falls – Museum of Idaho, Sept. 11, 6:30-8:00 pm
Free registration here.
— Boise – Idaho State Museum, Sept. 12, 6:00-8:00 pm
Free registration here.
For the 80th anniversary of the federal court trials of the Minidoka draft resisters, Eric Muller and I will speak in conversation at a series of presentations in Twin Falls, Idaho Falls, and Boise on “Resistance, Resilience, and the Ethics of Justice,” a discussion about the Minidoka draft resisters and lessons for today. Free registration in the links above.
SALT LAKE CITY, UT
September 8-9, 2024
JAMP Topaz Pilgrimage
— Sunday, Sept. 8, 11:00 am, at the Salt Lake City Public Library: Priscilla Ouchida and I will use the drawings by Ross Ishikawa for We Hereby Refuse to illustrate the personal story of Mitsuye Endo and her Supreme Court challenge. It was Priscilla’s personal conversations with Endo that informed the original story we were able to tell through the graphic novel form.
— Monday, Sept. 9, 9:00 am at the Little America Hotel: In conversation with Nancy Ukai, I will present selections from The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration that represent the experience of camp at Topaz, including the telegram sent by the Topaz Residents Committee setting conditions before answering the loyalty questionnaire, and the poem by Iwao Kawakami on the shooting of James Wakasa. Followed by a pop-up bookshop and signing mounted by The King’s English Bookshop.
PALO ALTO, CA
Saturday, August 3, 2024, 1:45-3:45 pm
Palo Alto Bon Odori
I will be signing copies of The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration at the pop-up bookshop operated by Leonard Chan and the Asian American Curriculum Project of San Mateo.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Saturday, July 27, 2024, 12:30-5:00 pm
Nichi Bei Book Fest
Koho Co-Creative Hub, 22 Peace Plaza, Suite 540
Japan Center East Mall
Come to the first-ever Nichi Bei Book Fest for the Bay Area launch of The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration at around 1:30 pm, where I will be in conversation with Nancy Ukai. Stay for the celebration of historian Art Hansen, with whom I will be in conversation at 3:00 pm, and the authors reception and book signings from 4:00 to 5:00 pm. The Book Fest coincides with the Nichi Bei’s big Summer Book Review issue.
KLAMATH FALLS, OR
Sunday, July 7, 2024, 9:45-11:15 am
2024 Tule Lake Pilgrimage
Oregon Institute of Technology, College Union Auditorium
“Reframing the Narrative: The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration, Tessaku, and the Tule Lake Stockade Diary“
For the second plenary session, Kyoko Oda will present her father’s Tule Lake Stockade Diary and I will share We Hereby Refuse and The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration to center the events at Tule Lake and provide a context for the experience of segregees and renunciants. The anthology includes four translations from Tessaku, a Tule Lake literary magazine, including two new translations by panel moderator Andrew Way Leong, who will introduce the Tessaku Translation Project and a new zine of translations of the entire first issue of the magazine. I will also be serving as a pilgrimage docent.
CODY/POWELL, WY
Tuesday, June 18, 2024, 11:00 am (in person)
Tuesday, June 25, 2024, 11:00 am (via Zoom)
NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Educator Workshop
Heart Mountain Interpretive Center
“We Hereby Refuse: The Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee and other camp resistance”
For a fourth summer I’ll speak to educators from across the nation at a pair of week-long NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Educator Workshops using the film Conscience and the Constitution, the graphic novel We Hereby Refuse, and the new anthology of The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration. We will examine mass resistance in all the camps to the government’s administration of a loyalty questionnaire, and the organized resistance at Heart Mountain to military conscription from inside camp. The theme for 2024 will be “Heart Mountain, Wyoming and the Japanese American Incarceration.” Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and hosted by the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation.
LITTLE ROCK, AR
Saturday, June 8, 2024, 8:00 am PT/10:00 am CT/11:00 am ET
2024 Jerome/Rohwer Pilgrimage and livestream
“The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration: Resistance at Jerome”
My first trip to personally experience the swampy environments of the two WRA camps in Arkansas, where I will reveal stories of resistance to registration at Jerome, as depicted in We Hereby Refuse, and writing from Rohwer that is presented in The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration from Penguin Classics. I will be joined in conversation with Jeffery Yamaguchi, followed by a book signing at 11:00 am at a pop-up shop with Paper Hearts Books of Little Rock. Here’s the YouTube recording of the panel livestream:
SEATTLE, WA
Saturday, June 1, 2024, 7:00 pm
Northwest Regional Emmy Awards ceremony
Fremont Studios, 155 N. 35th St.
The Northwest chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has nominated “We Hereby Refuse: The Akutsu Family Resists,” produced by the Seattle Channel, for a Northwest Regional Emmy in the category of Historical/Cultural-Short Form Content.
PORTLAND, OR
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 1:00 pm
Book launch for The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration
Japanese American Museum of Oregon
One Pacific Square, 220 NW 2nd, first floor conference room
Portland launch for the new anthology from Penguin Classics, in conversation with Emily Teraoka, park ranger at the Manzanar National Historic Site. We will be joined by the families and friends of the locally based authors who contributed to the volume. Free registration here.
SEATTLE, WA
Thursday, May 16, 2024, 7:00 pm
Book launch for The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration
Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 10th Avenue
Book maven Karen Maeda Allman will host me in conversation for the official launch of the new anthology from Penguin Classics. We will be joined by the families and friends of several of the locally based authors who contributed to the volume. More details at the event page here.
SEATTLE, WA
Wednesday, May 15, 2024, 11:00 am
New Day Northwest
KING-TV
An interview on Seattle’s premier morning television talk show to launch The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration. Thanks to producer Joseph Suttner for reaching out to book me; his grandmother he says was forcibly removed from Tacoma to Tule Lake.
ONLINE EVENT
Tuesday, May 14, 2024, 5:00 pm PDT/8:00 pm EDT
Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages
“Legacy Unveiled: Japanese American Draft Resistance in WWII“
For Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages I will host the streaming screening of three short films about the Fair Play Committee: one on the late James Uyeda, a new one on the last surviving Heart Mountain draft resister, Tak Hoshizaki, and my own short feature on the 2002 JACL apology for suppressing wartime resistance. Between the films, I’ll engage Tak in a live conversation.
NEW YORK, NY
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
publication of The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration
Not a public event, more of a milestone to be bookmarked: the publication date of the new anthology edited by Floyd Cheung and me, with book launches and media events now being scheduled in various cities. If you’re interested in hosting one, please contact us.
ELKO, NV
Friday, May 3, 2024, 7:00-8:00 pm
“Resistance & Resilience: Reflections on the Japanese American Incarceration during WW2”
Great Basin College
Following the performance of “A Thousand Cranes,” a multimedia play on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, I will take part virtually on a panel with Dr. Meredith Oda, Miya Hannan, and Cary Yamamoto to discuss the Japanese American experience of WW2 here in the Western states. Program funded by Nevada Humanities.
SEATTLE, WA
Saturday, May 4, 2024, 11:00 am
Humanities First program
University of Washington
Taking the UW’s freshman core program, Humanities First, on a tour of John Okada’s Chinatown, with lunch at the Bruce Lee table at Tai Tung.
SEATTLE, WA
April 25-26, 2024
2024 Association for Asian American Studies Conference
Sheraton Grand Seattle
— Thursday, April 25, 10:00 am.
Program T27, Medina Room.
“The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration: A Collective Voice, A New Canon”
Floyd Cheung and I are looking forward to launching our new Penguin anthology at this panel with Andrew Leong and Vince Schleitwiler, chaired by Rei Magosaki. Details in the Facebook Event.
— Friday, April 26, 1:00 pm.
Program F63, Jefferson Room A.
“Roundtable in Honor of Roger Daniels: A Tribute”
Remembering the dean of camp history, in the region where he last lived. With myself, Jonathan van Harmelen, Anna Pegler-Gordon, and chaired by Greg Robinson. See my tribute to Roger, and one from Jonathan.
BELLEVUE, WA
Saturday, April 13, 2024, 2:45-3:30 pm
Left Coast Crime 2024: Seattle Shakedown
Hyatt Regency Bellevue on Seattle’s Eastside
This annual convention of mystery writers and fans will recognize novelist John Okada as their “Ghost of Honor” with a panel, “Introducing the World of John Okada and No-No Boy,” featuring Shawn Wong and me, and moderated by our favorite mystery writer, Naomi Hirahara. This promises to be fun. Read the blog post.
PORT TOWNSEND, WA
March 25-April 8, 2024
Centrum Foundation writers residency
Two weeks as an artist-in-residence back in a cabin at Fort Worden State Park to work on rewrites for the No-No Boy play adaptation.
SEATTLE, WA
Wednesday, March 27, 2024, 1:25-2:15 pm
Seattle Public Library All Staff Day
Seattle Convention Center
Sharing my presentation on the John Okada Centennial so that front-facing library staff, whose work schedules often conflict, can have a chance to experience the kinds of library programs enjoyed by the public. All library locations are closed for Staff In-Service Day.
MINERAL, WA
March 3-17, 2024
Mineral School writers residency
Taking two weeks in residence near Mount Rainier to work on rewrites for the No-No Boy play adaptation, with an in-house show-and-tell on March 14.
SEATTLE, WA
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Tilden School class tour 
Introducing 4th and 5th grade students of the Tilden School from West Seattle to the story of wartime incarceration in a tour through Chinatown and the Panama Hotel.
SAN FRANCISCO and SAN JOSE, CA
Saturday and Sunday, February 24-25, 2024, 5:45 pm
“The Akutsu Family Resists” at Films of Remembrance film festival
AMC Kabuki 8 and San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin
Film festival debut of new animation by the Seattle Channel based on the Jim Akutsu story in We Hereby Refuse. The film will be paired with Sharon Yamato’s revelatory new film on attorney Wayne Collins. Join us for a post-screening discussion on both days. Sponsored by the Nichi Bei Foundation. Facebook Event here. See the trailer for the “Films of Resistance” program below and get tickets here.
PHILADELPHIA, PA
Wednesday, February 21, 2024, 6:30 pm
Philadelphia Day of Remembrance
University of Pennsylvania
Irvine Auditorium – Amado Recital Hall
Speaking on “Resistance, Redress, and the Day of Remembrance,” I will link the camp resistance in We Hereby Refuse to the constitutional stand for redress brought forward by the first Day of Remembrance, to Rob Buscher’s class on “Asian American Activism” and the community. Sponsored by the UPenn Asian American Across the Disciplines Series and Philadelphia JACL. Free registration here.
ORANGE, CA
Monday, February 19, 2024, 1:00-2:15 pm
“Resisters: Japanese American Incarceration Stories and Literature”
Chapman University, Argyros Forum, Room 209C
For Chapman University’s Day of Remembrance I’ll be speaking to students about our graphic novel We Hereby Refuse, in support of Prof. Stephanie Takaragawa’s brilliant online exhibit, “Images and Imaginings of Internment: Comics and Illustrations of Wartime Incarceration.” I’ll then engage in conversation with Prof. Rei Magosaki and Audrey Fong of The Soapberry Review about the forthcoming Penguin anthology of The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration.
PORTLAND, OR
Saturday, February 17, 2024, 2:00-4:00 pm
“Threads of Remembrance: 45 Years of Activism, Community, and Reparations”
Lincoln Hall, 1620 SW Park Ave.
For the Portland Day of Remembrance, I’ll join Peggy Nagae and Chisao Hata on a panel recalling our work with the local community to create the very first DOR in Portland 45 years ago, on February 17, 1979, on a panel moderated by Mira Shimabukuro. Sponsored by Portland JACL and the Japanese American Museum of Oregon. Free registration here.
SEATTLE, WA
Monday, February 12, 2024, 6:00-8:00 pm
UW Nikkei Student Union Day of Remembrance program
HUB Lyceum
Speaking on “Resistance, Redress, and the Day of Remembrance,” I will link the camp resistance in We Hereby Refuse to the constitutional stand for redress brought forward by the first Day of Remembrance, for the University of Washington Nikkei Student Union. Register here.
2023
BERKELEY, CA
Tuesday, November 14, 2023, 3:30-5:00 pm
“Translating TESSAKU: Lives Behind Barbed Wire”
University of California, Berkeley, 50 Birge Hall
First public presentation of the Tessaku Translation Project, led by Prof. Andrew Leong, alongside Kyoko Nancy Oda, Hiroshi Shimizu, and Konrad Aderer, speaking to students in the English 53/Asian American Studies 20C — Asian American Literatures and Cultures class. I will discuss four translations from Tessaku that will appear in our forthcoming Penguin Classics anthology of The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration. Free Eventbrite registration.
SEATTLE, WA
Monday, October 30, 2023, 1:00 pm
King County Equity & Social Justice program
King Street Center, 201 S. Jackson St.
Returning to see friends in the 8th floor conference room to present We Hereby Refuse and share my journey through Japanese American history and what it can show us about stemming anti-Asian violence today. Or something like that.
ONLINE PRESENTATION
Friday, October 27, 2023, 2p HT / 5p PT / 8p ET
“The Politics of Translating Incarceration Literature”
Tadaima! A Community Virtual Pilgrimage
With a discussion of four translations that will appear in our forthcoming Penguin Classics anthology of The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration. “Translation is a political act that comes with ethical responsibilities and considerations, especially when dealing with texts that carry the weight of historical trauma for marginalized communities. This panel will gather together translators and community members who have been involved in translating TESSAKU, a Japanese-language literary journal written, edited, and compiled by Japanese Americans who were incarcerated at Tule Lake, California, during World War II. We will discuss some of the ethical considerations that have arisen in the course of translating this material, including our obligations to descendants of Tule Lake incarcerees. Panelists: Frank Abe, Junko Kobayashi, Andrew Leong. Moderator: Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda.” Register here for the free Zoom panel. Like the Facebook Event.
ONLINE PRESENTATION
Thursday, October 19
“The John Okada Centennial: A Celebration of his life and work”
Tadaima! A Community Virtual Pilgrimage
For 2023 Tadaima! will feature the Seattle Channel video from our September 26 kickoff in Seattle upon the 100th anniversary of the birth of novelist John Okada, author of No-No Boy.
BELLEVUE, WA
Wednesday, October 18, 2023, 2:30 pm
Bellevue School District English Language Arts
Sammamish High School
On-site professional development for teachers interested in sharing We Hereby Refuse and John Okada’s No-No Boy with their students and adopting them into the district curriculum.
SANTA CRUZ, CA
Saturday, October 7, 2023, 3:00-6:00 pm
“Never Again Is Now: Japanese American Women Activists and the Legacy of Mass Incarceration” exhibit
Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery, Cowell College
University of California, Santa Cruz
I’ll speak at a reception at my alma mater, Cowell College UCSC, for an exhibit organized by Prof. Alice Yang, featuring pages from the story of Mitsuye Endo in our graphic novel, We Hereby Refuse. The exhibit is on display at the Smith Gallery from October 3 to December 2.
SEATTLE, WA
September-November 2023
The Seattle Public Library
The John Okada Centennial
Join The Seattle Public Library this fall for a special series that celebrates the centennial of the birth of Seattle native John Okada, author of the Great Japanese American Novel, “No-No Boy.” The series is co-presented by the University of Washington Press and the North American Post and is supported by The Seattle Public Library Foundation and the Gary and Connie Kunis Foundation.
- The John Okada Centennial: A celebration of his life and work. From 7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023. Central Library, Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium.
To kick off the centennial series, Okada biographer Frank Abe will present still-unseen images and stories from Okada’s life, and novelist Shawn Wong will share how he and his friends rediscovered and republished “No-No Boy” in the 1970s, leading to the edition currently available from the University of Washington Press, along with the story of Okada’s unfinished second novel. Karen Maeda Allman, literary agent and former Elliott Bay Book Company bookseller, will moderate the program. Free registration here. Watch the Seattle Channel recording of the complete program:
From Page to Stage: Adapting John Okada’s “No-No Boy” for today’s theater. From 7 to 8:15 p.m., Tuesday, October 24. Central Library, Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium. Writer Frank Abe shares scenes from a new stage adaptation of “No-No Boy” that he is currently developing under license from the University of Washington Press, and engages in a conversation with Seattle Rep Literary Manager and Dramaturg Paul Adolphsen on the challenges of bringing a novel published in 1957 to life for today’s theater audience. They will be joined by actors who will read scenes from the new adaptation and discuss them with the panelists. Co-presented by Seattle Rep. Free registration here.
The Postwar Seattle Chinatown of John Okada.
From 2 p.m. to 3:15 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 19. Central Library, Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium.
The sense of postwar Seattle Chinatown as a place imbues the pages of John Okada’s 1957 novel “No-No Boy,” and in this panel we will examine the imagined world of the novel along with the real history behind it. Family historian Shox Tokita shares the legacy of Chinatown hotels managed by Japanese Americans, including three owned by his mother; former Seattle City Councilmember Dolores Sibonga tells stories of Filipino residents and workers in Chinatown, including that of her mother and her Estigoy Café; and Dr. Marie Rose Wong, author of “Building Tradition: Pan-Asian Seattle and Life in the Residential Hotels,” examines the history of single-room occupancy residential hotels in Chinatown and the threats they now face. The panel will be moderated by Emily Porcincula Lawsin, 4Culture Historic Preservation Program Manager. Book sales by Chin Music Press. Free registration here.
SEATTLE, WA
Sunday, September 24, 2023, 8:00 pm PDT
“Cascade of History” hosted by Feliks Banel
SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle
Joining host Feliks Banel on his “Cascade of History” to talk about the John Okada Centennial and preview our first public event this Tuesday night at The Seattle Public Library Central Library auditorium. Tune in live to SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle, broadcasting from Magnuson Park. Here is the 45-minute interview as a podcast.
OYSTERVILLE, WA
August 1-28, 2023
Willapa Bay Artists in Residence
Taking the month working in residence in southwest Washington State to develop a new project for the stage.
SEATTLE, WA
Monday, July 31, 2023, 12:30-2:00 pm
Walking tour of John Okada’s Chinatown
for the National Japanese American Historical Society
A tour of John Okada’s postwar Chinatown and its intersections with African Americans, and a visit to the Wing Luke Museum’s Resisters exhibit, for educators in NJAHS’s day-long workshop on “THROUGH OUR EYES: People of Japanese Ancestry from Mass Incarceration to Segregation in 1940s America.”
CODY/POWELL, WY
Friday, July 28, 2023, 1:00 pm
2023 Heart Mountain Pilgrimage
Holiday Inn Cody-At Buffalo Bill Village, Ballroom
Authors of Incarceration panel
Bringing We Hereby Refuse and the story of camp resistance to the plenary panel moderated by Shirley Ann Higuchi (Setsuko’s Secret: Heart Mountain and the Legacy of the Japanese American Incarceration) and also featuring Eric Muller (Lawyer, Jailer, Ally, Foe: Complicity and Conscience in America’s World War II Concentration Camps), and Douglas Nelson (Heart Mountain: The History of an American Concentration Camp).
SACRAMENTO, CA
Thursday, June 22, 2023, 10:45 am
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy Judicial Library and Learning Center
Summer Seminar for Educators
Robert T. Matsui Federal Courthouse
A professional development seminar for local educators, organized by the American Bar Association in partnership with the McGeorge School of Law at University of the Pacific. I will present the case of Mitsuye Endo, with a focus on the legal strategy of attorney James Purcell, as told through the pages of We Hereby Refuse. Register here.
CODY/POWELL, WY
Wednesday, June 21 and July 26, 2023, 10:00 am
NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Educator Workshop
Heart Mountain Interpretive Center
“We Hereby Refuse: The Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee and other camp resistance”
For a third summer I’ll speak to educators from across the nation at a pair of week-long NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Educator Workshops using the film Conscience and the Constitution and the graphic novel We Hereby Refuse. We will examine mass resistance in all the camps to the government’s administration of a loyalty questionnaire, and the organized resistance at Heart Mountain to military conscription from inside camp. This year’s theme is “Echoes of History: Mistreatment and Incarceration in the American West.” Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and hosted by the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation.
SEATTLE, WA
Tuesday, May 23, 2023, 8:40-10:00 am
National Consortium on Racial & Ethnic Fairness in the Courts
2023 Conference
Hilton Motif Seattle
Discussing the historical arc of the incarceration experience and exploring the tension between themes of patriotism and resistance with Shirley Ann Higuchi and Daniel James Brown on a plenary session, “Japanese American Incarceration Authors Panel: Forced Removal, Patriotism, & Resistance.“
SANTA CRUZ, CA
Monday, May 22, 2023, 12:00 pm
University of California, Santa Cruz, Arts Professional Pathways
“Arts & Activism: A Conversation with Shepard Fairey, Frank Abe, and Andrew Aydin” 
A Zoom panel that “brings American contemporary artist/activist Shepard Fairey, Frank Abe, lead author of WE HEREBY REFUSE: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration, and Andrew Aydin, co-author of the graphic novel trilogy March, into a conversation about their journeys of mobilizing artistic interventions for political activism.” Moderated by Professors Dee Hibbert-Jones and Kristen Gillette. The three of us are all UCSC arts alums. Open to all, free registration here.
SEATTLE, WA
Thursday, May 18, 2023, 10:30 am
University of Washington
Mary Gates Hall
Informal discussion of We Hereby Refuse and the camp experience with students of Prof. Devin Naar in his honors course on “Race, Religion, and Migration in Global Context.”
SEATTLE, WA
Tuesday, May 16, 2023, 11:30 am
Seattle Mariners AAPI Cultural Luncheon
T-Mobile Park
As a Mariners season ticket member, I couldn’t be more excited to moderate a private event for Mariners front office staff on the story of Japanese American baseball in both prewar Seattle and the wartime incarceration camp at Minidoka, with presentations by novelist Shawn Wong, Dr. Marie Rose Wong, and Ken Mochizuki, author of Baseball Saved Us.
SEATTLE, WA
Saturday, May 6, 2023, 11:00 am
Humanities First program
University of Washington
Taking the UW’s freshman core program, Humanities First, on a tour of John Okada’s Chinatown, with lunch at the Bruce Lee table at Tai Tung. Here’s a short YouTube video from the day:
WALLA WALLA, WA
Tuesday, April 11, 2023, 7:00 p.m.
Walla Walla University, Winter Environmental Center 209
7th annual Donald Blake Center Academic Conference
Presenting We Hereby Refuse in-person at the annual conference held by the Donald Blake Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Culture, along with Shawn Wong and Marie Rose Wong.
LONG BEACH, CA
Friday, April 7, 2023, 4:30-6:00 pm
2023 Association for Asian American Studies Conference
The Westin Long Beach, Shoreline Room
Chairing an independent papers panel on “Citizenship & Legalities” with presentations by Gabriel Chin, UC Davis; Andrew Parayil Boge, University of Iowa; Anne Soon Choi, California State University, Dominguez Hills; and David Mori, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
SEATTLE, WA
Friday, March 10, 2023, 2:00 pm
2023 AWP Conference & Bookfair
Washington State Convention Center
Booksigning for We Hereby Refuse at the Chin Music Press booth at Bookfair booth #139 at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs annual conference. I will be attending panels Thursday and Saturday as well.
SEATTLE, WA
Saturday, February 18, 2023, 2:00-5:00 pm
Japanese American WWII Graphic Novels re-launch
Wing Luke Museum
A Day of Remembrance program with book signings to reintroduce The Wing’s partnership with Chin Music Press and the packaging of the three graphic novels, Fighting for America: Nisei Soldiers, We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration, and the new Those Who Helped Us: Assisting Japanese Americans During the War.
RENO, NV
Thursday, February 16, 2023, 6:00-8:00 pm
Nevada Humanities
Downtown Reno Library Theatre, 301 S Center St.
A 90-minute in-person conversation with Dr. Meredith Ota and visual artist Miya Hannan on ““Memory and Resistance: Remembering Japanese American Incarceration,” on We Hereby Refuse, memory as captured through the graphic novel, and the importance of Japanese American community organizing around redress and reparations. Share the Facebook Event.
SEATTLE, WA
Wednesday, February 1, 2023, 7:00 pm
Elliott Bay Book Company
Beyond the Betrayal book talk
Moderating an in-person book talk on Yosh Kuromiya’s Beyond the Betrayal, now in paperback from University Press of Colorado. With editor Art Hansen and one of Yosh’s daughters who worked on the manuscript, Gail Kuromiya of Bellingham. Co-sponsored by Densho. Share the Facebook Event.
2022
BOWLING GREEN, OH
Thursday, November 17, 2022, 2:30 pm ET
Bowling Green State University
ACS 6750 Literature of Japanese American Incarceration
Speaking virtually with graduate students reading We Hereby Refuse in the ACS 6750 Japanese American Incarceration class of Prof. Jolie Sheffer.
FRESNO, CA
Tuesday, November 15, 2022, 2:30 pm PT
California State University, Fresno
Speaking virtually with students in the ENGL 169T Visual Narratives class of Prof. Alison Mandaville who are working on civics action narratives, researching and creating non-fiction pieces focused on civics issues in the Central Valley.
PORT TOWNSEND, WA
Friday, October 28, 2022, 6:00 pm
Building 310, Fort Worden State Park
Centrum Emerging Writers Residenccy Open Studio and Writers Showcase
At the end of our cohort’s month-long Centrum Foundation residency at Fort Worden State Park. a showcase of new work by the Emerging Artist and Writers Residents, including a cold reading of the prologue and first scene from the new stage adapation I’ve been developing here.
ST. PAUL, MN
Saturday, October 8, 2022, 6:00 pm
Twin Cities JACL 75th Anniversary Celebration
Historic Fort Snelling Visitor Center, 200 Tower Avenue
“Three Takes on the Midwest”
Guest speaker for the Twin Cities JACL 75th Anniversary Celebration at their Bento Box dinner and program. A return to the Midwest where I was born five years after this chapter’s founding.
ST. PAUL, MN
Saturday, October 8, 2022, 2:00 pm
Historic Fort Snelling Visitor Center, 200 Tower Avenue
“Camp Resistance, the MIS Language School, and John Okada”
A free public lecture presenting the story of We Hereby Refuse and how it intersects with No-No Boy novelist John Okada, who trained at the MIS Language School at nearby Camp Savage. RSVP via the Facebook Event.
CODY/POWELL, WY
Friday, July 29, 2022, 1:00 pm and 2:40 pm
2022 Heart Mountain Pilgrimage
Holiday Inn Cody-At Buffalo Bill Village, Ballroom
Authors of Incarceration panel
I’ll discuss We Hereby Refuse and its inspirations on a panel with Shirley Ann Higuchi (Setsuko’s Secret), Susan Kamei (When Can We Go Back to America?), Douglas Nelson (Heart Mountain: The History of an American Concentration Camp), and Alden Hayashi (Two Nails, One Love).
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Thursday, July 14, 2022, 6:00 pm PDT
Nichi Bei Café livestream video: “Voices of Resistance”
Tune in for the next episode of the Nichi Bei Cafe livestream for a preview of the Summer Book Review issue and my conversation with Art Hansen on the publication of Yosh Kuromiya’s long-awaited book, Beyond the Betrayal: The Memoir of a WW2 Japanese American Draft Resister of Conscience. Watch it on the Nichi Bei Foundation Facebook LIve or YouTube channels.
CODY/POWELL, WY
Wednesday, June 22, 2022, 9:00 am
Wednesday, July 27, 2022, 9:00 am
NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Educator Workshop
Heart Mountain Interpretive Center
“We Hereby Refuse: The Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee and other camp resistance”
I’ll speak in-person at a pair of week-long NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Educator Workshops on the film Conscience and the Constitution and the graphic novel We Hereby Refuse. We will examine mass resistance in all the camps to the government’s administration of a loyalty questionnaire, and the organized resistance at Heart Mountain to compulsory military conscription from inside camp. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and hosted by the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation.
PORTLAND, OR
Thursday, June 2, 2022, 6:00 pm – “Books and Bites” book signing
Friday, June 3, 2022, 10:15 am – panel followed by book signing
2022 NCORE Conference
Oregon Convention Center
“Teaching Japanese American Resistance Through the Graphic Novel”
An in-person session with book signings for We Hereby Refuse at the annual meeting of the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE), a program of the University of Oklahoma billed as “the leading national forum on issues of race and ethnicity in higher education.” The Friday presentation is Session #4204 in Portland Ballroom 252. Book signings in the Exhibit Hall Thursday at 6:00 pm and Friday at 12:00 noon.
SEATTLE, WA
Friday, May 27, 2022, 12:30 pm
University of Washington
Humanities First program, Denny Hall 257
Speaking to the UW’s Humanities First program, taught by Prof. Sarah Stroup.
TACOMA, WA
Thursday, May 26, 9:00 am-1:00 pm
“I” Corps and Joint Base Lewis-McChord Office of the Staff Judge Advocate professional development workshop
Washington State History Museum
“Japanese American Incarceration During World War II and its Legal Aftermath.”
A professional development workshop training for Army attorneys in the Seattle-Tacoma region, with a presentation on “Resistance to Incarceration Through the Courts,” covering We Hereby Refuse and Conscience and the Constitution . With retired Seattle University professor and noted coram nobis attorney Lorraine Bannai, attorney Hoyt Zia, and Fred Borch, archive historian for the JAG office.
KING COUNTY, WA
Tuesday, May 24, 2022, 5:30 pm
AKCHO Awards Celebration
Each of our creative team wiil speak virtually in acceptance of the Virginia Marie Folkins Award for Outstanding Historical Publication from the Association of King County Historical Organizations.
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, WA
Saturday, April 30, 2022, 2:00 pm
Bainbridge Island Museum of Art
Frank Buxton Auditorium
“Resisting and the Fight for Justice”
I’ll speak in-person on the long-suppressed stories of resistance to wartime incarceration, as documented in the film Conscience and the Constitution and the graphic novel We Hereby Refuse. Common to both works are the characters of Bainbridge Island native, journalist James Omura, and Seattle draft resister Jim Akutsu.
SANTA CRUZ, CA
April 21-23, 2022
Cowell Class of 1972 Alumni Week
“How We’re Still Changing the World“
Thursday, April 21, 3:00-5:00 pm
I’m really Class of 1973, but will take part in two alumni panels. The first is a virtual one I’m moderating: “We started out protesting the Viet Nam War and volunteering on Daufuskie Island to change the world, but since then our community involvements have become much more diverse and far reaching. Join with our classmates to tell your stories of where this impulse, engendered by so many of our professors, has led us. We will also learn about what community service looks like at Cowell today. Moderated by Frank Abe.”
“(Nearly) Everything I Know about the Creative Process I Learned at Cowell College: Writers and Their Writing”
Saturday, April 23, 1:30–3:30 pm
Page Smith Library
“We’re gathering writers of all stripes and experiences from our classes to hold an open discussion on the writing process, from creativity to publishing, from comics to film and theater. Some of the participants: David Stanford, Frank Abe, Alesa Lightbourne, Ren Weschler, Cameron Vanderscoff. Possibly livestreamed.“
“(Nearly) Everything I Know about the Creative Process I Learned at Cowell College: Acting and Writing for the Theater”
A video interview recorded in January for posting on the alumni webpage, along with a clip from Conscience and the Constitution. The page features other alumni from the early years of Cowell reflecting on their writing for and engagement with film , theater, and history, including Adilah Barnes (who I knew as Lovey Barnes), David Stanford, Malcolm Taylor, and Patty Nelson Limerick.
DENVER, CO
Thurs., April 14, 2022, 6:00 pm
Friday, April 15, 2022, 10:00 am
Association for Asian American Studies conference
Hilton Denver City Center
Seeing friends in person, sharing We Hereby Refuse at the New Books Reception, and chairing a panel on “Asian American Comics as Fantasy and Possibility.“
SACRAMENTO, CA
Saturday, April 9, 2022, 12:00-1:30 pm
Pacific Sociological Association conference
Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel
“Reconstructing and Reframing the Collective Narrative of Japanese American Incarceration”
Featured speaker in-person for the Presidential Session, using We Hereby Refuse to speak to the conference theme of “Telling Our Stories: Collective Memory and Narratives of Race, Gender, and Community Identity.“ A key question for conferees is how we use memory as agency in disrupting power and systematic inequality, and as a tool for change and action. Thanks for the invitation from PSA president Dr. Wendy Ng of CSU East Bay.
BOCA RATON, FL
Wednesday, March 30, 2022, 4:00-7:00 pm EDT
Florida Atlantic University
Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education
A virtual professional development workshop for 30 high school history teachers and Florida Atlantic University faculty in Southeast Florida on the incarceration experience, including the resistance portrayed in We Hereby Refuse. Organized by Toshimi Abe-Janiga of the Riviera Beach Preparatory & Achievement Academy for the FAU Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education.
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, WA
Tuesday, March 29, 2022, 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm
Bainbridge Island Museum of Art
Frank Buxton Auditorium
“smARTfilms: Executive Order 9066 at Eighty”
Film screening of Conscience and the Constitution, held in connection with the “smARTfilms: Executive Order 9066 at Eighty” film series and exhibition.
POMONA, CA
Thursday, February 24, 2022, 12:00-1:00 pm PT
Cal Poly Pomona Day of Remembrance
A virtual Day of Remembrance presentation around We Hereby Refuse and the legacy of Michi Weglyn, at the school which is home to the Michi and Walter Weglyn Multicultural Studies Chair and Weglyn Endowed Chair, Dr. Mary Kunmi Yu Danico. Much of the Tule Lake story in our book is drawn from and honors the work of Michi and her landmark Years of Infamy.
BELLEVUE, WA
Wednesday, February 23, 2022, 1:30 pm PT
Bellevue College Day of Remembrance
In a virtual presentation for the Asian Pacific Islander Student Association, which is distributing 50 copies of We Hereby Refuse to students, I’ll connect the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans with the resurgence in anti-Asian violence today and explore how false accusations of disloyalty have historically been made solely on the basis of race. With API Students host Sunny Lee. Watch the presentation on YouTube:
SEATTLE, WA
Monday, February 21, 2022, 6:00 pm PT
Elliott Bay Book Company author event
In virtual conversation with author Garrett Hongo on his new book, The Perfect Sound: A Memoir in Stereo: “A poet’s audio obsession, from his earliest vinyl to his quest for the perfect vacuum tubes, as he strives to make both sound and sense of his life.” It’s a great read.
VASHON ISLAND, WA
Saturday, February 19, 2022, 4:00 pm PT
Vashon Island Day of Remembrance
A virtual event presenting We Hereby Refuse and the story of camp resistance with Tamiko Nimura and moderated by Islander Rita Brogan, in collaboration with Mukai Farm & Garden, and with support from 4Culture, Vashon Island Heritage Museum, and Humanities Washington. Free registration to get the Zoom link here. More details at the Facebook Event. Watch the video on the Mukai Farm & Garden YouTube channel:
WASHINGTON, DC
Saturday, February 19, 2022, 2:00 pm PT/5:00 pm ET
National Day of Remembrance
The Smithsonian National Museum of American History, the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, and the National Park Service are hosting a two-day, virtual National Day of Remembrance focusing on 80 years of reckoning since Executive Order 9066. I will lead off the panel “Day of Remembrances: Standing for Redress and Reclaiming History,” celebrating how the community reclaimed this date to seek justice, joined by Susan Hayase, San Jose Nikkei Resisters founder; David Inoue, Japanese American Citizens League National executive director; and Brian Niiya, Densho content director. Erin Aoyama of Brown University moderates the entire weekend of events. Watch live on the NPS YouTube channel:
CODY/POWELL, WY
Saturday, February 19, 2022, 12:00 pm PT/1:00 pm MT
Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation Educators Workshop
I’ll be filling in via Zoom for a recuperating Tak Hoshizaki to speak about resistance in the camps at a professional development workshop for Wyoming and Montana teachers on the Day of Remembrance. Among the resources used by the participants is We Hereby Refuse. Sponsored by the Wyoming Humanities Council. See the Facebook Event.
ST. PAUL, MN
Saturday, February 19, 2022, 11:00 am PT/1:00 pm CT
East Side Freedom Library
“Day of Remembrance: Minnesota’s Role in Incarceration and Transcendence“
In connection with a screening of The Registry, Bill Kubota and Steve Ozone’s PBS film on the MIS, I’m happy to drop in to briefly online speak about the first Day of Remembrance and John Okada’s role in the MIS. Hosted by the East Side Freedom Library and the Twin Cities Japanese American Citizens League. Watch on the East Side Freedom Library YouTube channel:
SEATTLE, WA
Thursday, February 17, 2022, 12:00-1:00 pm PT
Seattle Colleges Day of Remembrance
A virtual Day of Remembrance program, in conversation with noted artist Erin Shigaki, weaving the stories of four Broadway High School students through the lens of We Hereby Refuse, Conscience and the Constitution, and the first Day of Remembrance and redress. Download the poster. Watch on the Seattle Central College Student Leadership YouTube channel:
OAKLAND, CA
Sunday, February 13, 2022, 3:00-4:30pm PST
Oakland Asian Cultural Center
“We Hereby Refuse: The Bay Area Allies”
For this Day of Remembrance program, moderator Darren Murata will join with writer Frank Abe for a virtual conversation around We Hereby Refuse with Kathleen Purcell of San Francisco, the daughter of Mitsuye Endo’s attorney James Purcell; Wayne Collins Jr. of Berkeley, the son of Hiroshi Kashiwagi’s attorney Wayne Collins; and Sadako Kashiwagi of Berkeley, Hiroshi’s wife. Hosted by Eastwind Books of Berkeley and the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, with a livestream to the OACC’s YouTube channel. Register via Eventbrite for free tickets. Download the PDF flyer. Join the Facebook Event. Watch on YouTube here:
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Thursday, February 10, 2022, 6:00 pm PST
Nichi Bei Café livestream video
Tune in for the debut of NIchi Bei Weekly publisher Kenji Taguma’s new innovation, the Nichi Bei Cafe, a monthly livestream program designed to keep the community engaged and connected with “a mixed plate of Japanese American news and culture.” For the premiere, I contribute a video essay on helping create and organize the first Day of Remembrance in 1978. Watch it on the Nichi Bei Foundation YouTube channel.
LOS ANGELES, CA
Thursday, February 10, 2022, 9:30-10:15 am PST
UCLA Asian American Studies class
A virtual discussion of We Hereby Refuse and the overall camp resistance for the Asian American Studies 131B course on “Japanese Americans and Incarceration,” taught by Karen Umemoto and Brian Niiya.
SEATTLE, WA
Wednesday, February 9, 2022, 9:30-10:20 am PST
University of Washington English class
Speaking virtually about We Hereby Refuse with students in Alan Williams’ English 200A course on “Tracing 20th-Century U.S. Racialization through Literary Forms.”
DETROIT, MI
Wednesday, February 2, 2022, 1:30 pm EST
Detroit Prep 6th graders
Virtually answering questions of 6th graders beginning their in-depth study of World War II and Japanese American incarceration camps in the class of Charles Johns.
SEATTLE, WA
Friday, January 28, 2022
Washington Game Changers podcast
A lot of laughs in this half-hour conversation with former colleague Lauri Reed Hennessey on the Day of Remembrance, We Hereby Refuse, our time at KIRO Newsradio 71, and my weekly series, “Other Voices.” And we touch upon the attacks on teaching history, recorded days before the MAUS book-banning blew up. Listen here.
2021
SEATTLE, WA
Saturday, November 20, 2021, 12:00-1:00 pm PST
Wing Luke Museum Community Hall
Winter Book-O-Rama book signing
After a year of virtual events, it’s with great pleasure to say we’re having our first Seattle in-person book-signing for We Hereby Refuse. Bring proof of vaccination and your mask and you’ll find Frank Abe, Ross Ishikawa, and Tamiko Nimura seated at socially-distanced tables.
LOS ANGELES, CA
Saturday, October 30, 2021, 5:30-6:30 pm PDT
Japanese American Confinement Sites Consortium
2021 Education Conference video poster session
Frank Abe describes the origins of the new graphic novel We Hereby Refuse as a project of the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, for the online poster session which explores the story of resistance by Japanese Americans to their wartime incarceration.
LOS ANGELES, CA
Saturday, October 30, 2021, 2:15-3:45 pm PDT
Japanese American Confinement Sites Consortium
2021 Education Conference
Moderating the stories from We Hereby Refuse and others for a virtual workshop session on “Trials of Suspicion, Segregation, and Selective Service.” Also presenting are Matt Lautzenheiser on the Enemy Alien Hearing Boards held at Fort Missoula, Montana, and Stan Shikuma on the Tule Lake Segregation Center. Free and open to the public. #JACSC2021. Click here to open the schedule as a PDF, and here for a PDF of the full program.
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND
Thursday, October 21, 2021, 8:00-10:00 pm Scottish Time
Scottish International Storytelling Festival
I’m representing Seattle as a UNESCO City of Literature by virtually presenting two stories about John Okada and the writing of No-No Boy at the Scottish International Storytelling Festival. The program is called “Global Hearth: Walter Scott and City Writers,” and its hosted by Anna Fancett (Edinburgh), with Frank Abe (Seattle), Nuala Hayes (Dublin) and Dima Matta (Beirut). It’s a ticketed event. See the full program on page 18. #SISFImagine
WASHINGTON, DC
Friday, October 15, 2021, 3:00-5:00 pm EDT
George Washington University
Comics and Graphic Narratives Symposium
In their Fall courses, undergraduate and graduate students will read We Hereby Refuse and I Was Their American Dream. Authors Frank Abe and Tamiko Nimura will be joined by author Malaka Gharib in virtual conversation at a symposium on “Race, Rights, and Immigration in Ethnic American Comics.” We’ll speak about how we went about creating, visualizing, and researching our works, describe the challenges along the way, and fit our work into current debates on the Asian American experience.
NEW YORK, NY
Sunday, October 3, 2021, 12:00-1:00 pm EDT
Brooklyn Book Festival
St. Francis College, Founder’s Hall, 180 Remsen St.
The first in-person event for We Hereby Refuse will be the Brooklyn Book Festival, the largest free literary festival in New York City. It’s a roundtable discussion of historical graphic novels at St. Francis College called “From the Past to the Future” also featuring Brian Keith Mitchell (Monumental), Bill Campbell (The Day the Klan Came to Town), and Dash Shaw (Discipline). Moderated by Lara Saguisag of CUNY College of Staten Island. Free admission. #BKBF. See the Facebook Event.
TADAIMA! A COMMUNITY VIRTUAL PILGRIMAGE
Saturday, September 18, 2021, 1:00 pm PDT
“We Hereby Refuse: The Next Generation”
Our graphic novel We Hereby Refuse presents the stories of three Nisei who refused to submit to imprisonment in American concentration camps without a fight. Now meet their children. In this panel for Tadaima! we’ll meet Jim Akutsu’s son Phillip, Mitsuye Endo’s daughter Wendy, and Hiroshi Kashiwagi’s son Soji, and get their reactions to the characterization of their parents. See the Facebook Event and watch the replay on YouTube:
TADAIMA! A COMMUNITY VIRTUAL PILGRIMAGE
Sunday, September 5, 2021, 1:00 pm PDT
“Unlocking Issei Voices in Camp Literature”
The buried past of Issei writing in camp is uncovered in two new publication projects. Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation Museum Manager Cally Steussy will unveil the foundation’s new translations of the Heart Mountain Bungei literary magazine, joined by two of her translators, Lisa Hofman-Kuroda and Allison Markin Powell. Writer/editor Frank Abe will discuss other recent translations of Issei writing planned for the forthcoming Penguin Book of the Literature of Japanese American Incarceration, including two commissioned from the Tule Lake Tessaku magazine. See the Facebook Event and watch the replay on YouTube, cued to the start of our anthology discussion:
SACRAMENTO, CA
Wednesday, August 25, 2021, 5:00 pm PDT
Sacramento Public Library “Authors Uncovered“
Our Sacramento book launch will feature the local stories of young Mitsuye Endo and Hiroshi Kashiwagi, with a special focus on Ross Ishikawa’s artwork and the craft of visual storytelling and graphic novel production. Here’s the program, moderated by Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Kara Ueda:
SEATTLE, WA
Monday, August 16, 2021, 6:00 pm PDT
Elliott Bay Book Company author event
A pleasure to be in virtual conversation with Edgar Award-winning mystery novelist Naomi Hirahara, on the publication of her groundbreaking new book CLARK AND DIVISION, centered on the postwar resettlement of Japanese Americans in Chicago. See the Facebook Event notice. Here’s our conversation:
CODY/POWELL, WY
Saturday, July 24, 2021, 2:00 pm MDT
Heart Mountain Pilgrimage “Authors of Incarceration” panel
For the 2021 virtual pilgrimage, the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation has organized an “Authors of Incarceration” panel “with the authors of the most popular books about Japanese American incarceration out now! Panelists include Frank Abe (We Hereby Refuse), Daniel James Brown (Facing the Mountain), Shirley Ann Higuchi (Setsuko’s Secret), and Bradford Pearson (The Eagles of Heart Mountain). Ray Locker and Erin Aoyama will moderate.” Watch the replay on YouTube.
CODY/POWELL, WY
Thursday, July 22, 2021, 11:00 am MDT
NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Virtual Workshop
“We Hereby Refuse: The Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee and other camp resistance“
Frank Abe speaks to educators at this NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Virtual Workshop on his film Conscience and the Constitution and the graphic novel We Hereby Refuse. We will examine mass resistance in all the camps to the government’s administration of a loyalty questionnaire, and the organized resistance at Heart Mountain to compulsory military conscription from inside camp. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and hosted by the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation.
LOS ANGELES, CA
Saturday, June 26, 2021, 2:00 pm PDT
Japanese American National Museum
Southern California book launch for We Hereby Refuse. Authors Frank Abe and Tamiko Nimura will read from the graphic novel and describe the process of dramatizing a history that overturns the usual expectations around camp stories, with a special focus on segregation at Tule Lake. Artist Ross Ishikawa will share his use of computer-aided design CAD software to recreate scenes from Japanese American history, and YURI Education Project creators will demonstrate a free online curriculum that accompanies the book. $10 and free for members. This program is co-sponsored by the George and Sakaye Aratani CARE Award, UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center, and the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience. Watch on the JANM YouTube channel:
SEATTLE, WA
Saturday, June 26, 2021
2021 Virtual Minidoka Pilgrimage
“The Minidoka Story in We Hereby Refuse”
The experience of incarceration at Minidoka is presented in a way not seen before in a provocative new graphic novel on camp resistance. Join authors Frank Abe and Tamiko Nimura for an inside look at the draft resistance of Jim and Gene Akutsu, the organizing of the Mother’s Society of Minidoka, and the brief life of the Civil Liberties League. UPDATE: See the YouTube video here.
CODY/POWELL, WY
Thursday, June 24, 2021, 10:15 am MDT
NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Virtual Workshop
“We Hereby Refuse: The Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee and other camp resistance“
Frank Abe speaks to educators at this NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Virtual Workshop on our film Conscience and the Constitution and the graphic novel We Hereby Refuse. We will examine mass resistance in all the camps to the government’s administration of a loyalty questionnaire, and organized resistance at Heart Mountain to compulsory military conscription from inside camp. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and hosted by the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation.
SEATTLE, WA
Monday, June 14, 2021, 6:00 pm PDT
Seattle Public Library author series
Authors Frank Abe and Tamiko Nimura and artist Ross Ishikawa debut We Hereby Refuse for Seattle library patrons, in conversation with Densho’s Tom Ikeda. Co-sponsored by Densho and the Elliott Bay Book Company. UPDATED with the video recorded by the Seattle Channel:
SEATTLE, WA
Monday, June 14, 2021, 12:00 pm PDT
KUOW “The Record” with Bill Radke
A live conversation about We Hereby Refuse with a former colleague from KIRO Radio days. We’ll chat in the second half-hour. Listen live locally at 94.9 FM. UPDATE: Hear the 17-minute interview segment using the third button of this webpage.
BERKELEY, CA
Thursday, June 3, 2021, 7:00 PDT
KPFA-FM “APEX Express“
In the San Francisco Bay Area , tune in Pacifica Radio’s KPFA 94.1 FM (or stream it live worldwide at KPFA.org) for our conversation about We Hereby Refuse and camp resistance with the Powerleegirls hosts Miko Lee and Jalena Keane-Lee. UPDATE: Listen to the program here or download it as an mp3 to listen later as a podcast.
LOS ANGELES, CA
Wednesday, May 26, 2021, 8:00 & 11:00 pm
Spectrum News One “Inside the Issues with Alex Cohen”
For Charter Communications cable-tv subscribers in Southern California, from Santa Barbara to North San Diego County, a 9-minute conversation on “Inside the Issues with Alex Cohen” on Spectrum News One.
SANTA CRUZ, CA
Wednesday, May 26, 2021, 12:00 pm PDT
UC Santa Cruz
Presenting We Hereby Refuse to Prof. Brenda Sanfilippo’s class on “War and American Literature,” from WWI to the present.
LOS ANGELES, CA
Tuesday, May 25, 2021, 9:30-10:45 am PDT
UCLA Asian American Studies 40: “Asian American Movement”
A livestream presentation of We Hereby Refuse to Dr. Kelly Fong’s class on the history of the “Asian American Movement.” This program is co-sponsored by the George and Sakaye Aratani CARE Award, UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center, and the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience. Details at the Facebook Event. To get the livestream link, free registration at jaresistance.eventbrite.com.
TACOMA, WA
Tuesday, May 18, 2021, 6:00 pm PDT
King’s Books book talk
On the official date of publication of We Hereby Refuse, authors Frank Abe and Tamiko Nimura join in conversation with Rachel Endo, Founding Dean of the School of Education at the University of Washington Tacoma. Register here to join the Zoom event.
SEATTLE, WA
Friday, April 23, 2021, 10:30 am PDT
Humanities First program
University of Washington
Speaking to the freshman core program, Humanities First, which is reading John Okada’s Seattle-based No-No Boy as its text for the spring HUM 103 course on Community Connections.
SEATTLE, WA
Friday, April 9, 2021, 1:30pm PDT
Association for Asian American Studies virtual conference
Graphic novels open the door to alternative narratives from hitherto-marginalized communities, while increasing student engagement. For the panel, “Unsettling the Japanese American Narrative Through the Graphic Novel,” authors Frank Abe and Tamiko Nimura will present excerpts from We Hereby Refuse that unsettle familiar victim narratives of Japanese American incarceration. Professors Caroline Hong of Queens College CUNY and Alison Mandaville of Cal State Fresno will analyze the work and place it within the larger field of counternarratives and resistance narratives in Asian American Studies.
SEATTLE, WA
Wednesday, March 16, 2021, 4:00 pm PT
Friends of the UW Libraries
Presenting We Hereby Refuse in an informal salon for Friends of the Library at the University of Washington, hosted by Friends of the Library board member Anne Repass.
CALIFORNIA STATE
Sunday, March 7, 2021, 11:15 am PT
California Council for the Social Studies
2021 Virtual Conference
“Teaching Japanese American Resistance Through the Graphic Novel:” Writer Frank Abe & Wing Luke Museum curriculum director Rahul Gupta present We Hereby Refuse to registered conference attendees, along with its accompanying Educator Guide, developed in partnership with the YURI Education Project and supported a grant from the George and Sakaye Aratani CARE Award and UCLA Asian American Studies Center. #CCSS #CCSS2021
SEATTLE, WA
Saturday, February 27, 2021, 8:00 am-3:00 pm PT
Wing Luke Museum teacher training workshop
A day-long workshop for Washington state teachers at which we will debut the Educators Guide and interactive historical timeline that accompany our new graphic novel, We Hereby Refuse. Author Frank Abe will unpack how the structure of the book and its narrative arc upend the usual expectations around camp stories. Wing Luke curriculum director Rahul Gupta will demonstrate a free online curriculum that accompanies the book. To register, go to this link and click on the plus sign (+) next to “Educator Resources.”
SAN JOSE, CA
Sunday, February 21, 2021, 6:00 pm PT
45th anniversary screening of Farewell to Manzanar
West Wind Capitol Drive-in Theater
3630 Hillcap Avenue
Featured actor Frank Abe will host a virtual cast and crew reunion prior to the live and COVID-safe drive-in theater screening of the 1976 TV-movie, Farewell to Manzanar. Sponsored by the Nichi Bei Foundation as the closing night event of its 10th anniversary Films of Remembrance series. Read the Nichi Bei Weekly article about it.
MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL, MN
Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021, 4:00 – 6:00 pm CT
Twin Cities JACL Day of Remembrance
DOR screening of Conscience and the Constitution followed by an online discussion with director Frank Abe and Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), with Japanese American and Muslim students from the University of Minnesota. Moderated by Twin Cities JACL chapter president Vinicius Taguchi. Watch the saved video stream on YouTube, courtesy of the East Freedom Library.
PUYALLUP, WA
Sunday, February 21, 2021, 1:00 pm PT
Tsuru for Solidary – Seattle car caravan
“Another Time, Another Place” — In advance of a Day of Remembrance car caravan from the Puyallup Fairgrounds to the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, original DOR organizer Frank Abe has recorded a video greeting that links the first Day of Remembrance at the fairgrounds in 1978 to the ongoing need to press for release of asylum-seekers still held at the GEO Group private prison operated on behalf of ICE. Sponsored by Tsuru for Solidarity, La Resistencia, Densho, the Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Committee, Seattle JACL, and Puyallup Valley JACL.
SEATTLE, WA
Saturday, February 20, 2021, 2:00 pm PT
Wing Luke Museum online book launch
Book launch for new graphic novel, We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration, published by Chin Music Press of Seattle. Authors Frank Abe and Tamiko Nimura will and read from the book. Artists Ross Ishikawa and Matt Sasaki will break down their process.
SEATTLE, WA
Saturday, February 20, 2021, 11:00 am PT
Wing Luke Museum virtual tour of INS Building
A key scene in our graphic novel We Hereby Refuse takes place inside the U.S. Immigration Station, on the edge of Seattle’s Chinatown, where 100 immigrant Issei were held after their arrest by the FBI two months after Pearl Harbor. Writer Frank Abe will join the tour to speak about the detention of Jim Akutsu’s father inside the Immigration Station and show scenes from the book.