Our second printing has arrived from the printer! Books should be showing up at local bookstores, with backorders arriving in the mail. Thank you all for your interest and patience.
Continue reading Back orders for “WE HEREBY REFUSE” now shipping
“Western Washington Gets Real” about “WE HEREBY REFUSE”
It’s not often a book gets four minutes of TV coverage, so check out this feature that aired tonight on KIRO7 News in Seattle by clicking on the image.
Continue reading “Western Washington Gets Real” about “WE HEREBY REFUSE”
Postwar resettlement of Japanese Americans in Chicago explored in new mystery
There was no reason on earth for me to have been born in Cleveland, Ohio, other than the policy of the War Relocation Authority to disperse families released from camp to cities in the East and Midwest.
That’s the untapped history explored by Edgar Award-winning mystery novelist Naomi Hirahara in her groundbreaking new book CLARK AND DIVISION, centered on the postwar resettlement of Japanese Americans in Chicago. We had a delightful virtual conversation for the Elliott Bay Book Company on August 16:
Continue reading Postwar resettlement of Japanese Americans in Chicago explored in new mystery
“Seattle Now & Then” at King Street Station
“Seattle Now & Then” is a long-time fixture of Seattle media created by historian and photographer Paul Dorpat in 1982. The column is now produced by historian and photographer Jean Sherrard, who published the feature below on our graphic novel in the Seattle Times, online on August 5, 2021, and in the Pacific NW Magazine of the print Times on August 8, 2021. Jean also posted a 12-minute audio interview with Frank Abe on YouTube, shared below.
Continue reading “Seattle Now & Then” at King Street Station
Second printing ordered for “We Hereby Refuse”
This is a good news/bad news kind of post. The good news is that We Hereby Refuse has found its audience and flown off the shelves and out of the warehouses. Our first printing of 3,000 has sold out in just three weeks, and our publisher Chin Music Press has ordered a second printing of 3,000. Our title has held at #1 in various niche categories on Amazon. 
The AACP Interview
Since its founding in 1969, the Asian American Curriculum Project in San Mateo has been a cultural force in promoting Asian American writing, publishing books including those by Hiroshi Kashiwagi. I’ve been impressed with how Executive Editor Leonard Chan has revived Florence Hongo’s newsletter for the venerable non-profit, so I was happy to answer his questions.
Read the interview in the AACP newsletter of May 2021 here.
Continue reading The AACP Interview
“WE HEREBY REFUSE” published today
The day has arrived. It’s been a long journey, but it’s finally May 18, the publication date for We Hereby Refuse.
More than 1,100 books were shipped from the distributor by last Friday, Pre-orders are reportedly still working their way through the distribution chains at Bookshop.org and Amazon and may take a few more days to arrive in mailboxes. Continue reading “WE HEREBY REFUSE” published today
Mitsuye Endo is focus of first newspaper feature on “WE HEREBY REFUSE”
Two of the three main characters of We Hereby Refuse were born in Sacramento, so it’s fitting that the first news coverage of the book’s publication should come in their hometown paper. Continue reading Mitsuye Endo is focus of first newspaper feature on “WE HEREBY REFUSE”
Demystifying Book Titles: Greg Robinson on the title for “No-No Boy”
An unexpected blog post just arrived from our JOHN OKADA co-editor, Greg Robinson, on his theory of how Okada’s novel came to be published under the title of NO-NO BOY. Continue reading Demystifying Book Titles: Greg Robinson on the title for “No-No Boy”
May 18 publication set for “WE HEREBY REFUSE”
The violence against Asian Americans in Atlanta and across the nation is rooted, as many this week have pointed out, in a history of systemic exclusion and racism that includes the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans in WW2. It’s in this moment of heightened awareness that we confirm our graphic novel on that subject will be published on May 18. Continue reading May 18 publication set for “WE HEREBY REFUSE”