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Hi friends (and welcome, new friends!),
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And we’re back! Well—this month, I’m back from multiple journeys.
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The first journey is the first wave of book tour events. After the Tacoma launch, my dearest friend from college Marcy told me that my communities would rise up to meet me and the book at each event, and that has been beautifully true. I am still in awe and even disbelief at some of the folks I have seen: my dearest friend from college, and one of my cousins, both of whom flew up from California to surprise me at different events. So many people who have bought multiple copies of the book for family and friends and community collections. If you recently acquired or requested the book from a library, thank you thank you thank you.
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(Between these two trips, my youngest child graduated from high school, beginning and concluding her own journey. It's been quite the summer.)
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The second journey was a yoga and meditation retreat on Whidbey Island. It was gorgeous and meaningful. I had never been on a multiple day retreat before, and jumped at the opportunity this time. I knew I’d need it after the first big rush of book tour. So much natural beauty, so much silence that I hadn’t known I missed. Whidbey Institute was the kind of place where the birds sang all day long, and a couple of neighborhood bunnies would come up and nibble at the meadow in front of the yoga practice room. A rock-strewn labyrinth to walk, meditation spaces full of natural wood and stone. If you can, I highly recommend taking the time and space for retreat and silence. Gratitude to my friend and studio owner Erin of Source Yoga for inviting me to come.
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And the third journey, which will probably be of the most interest to readers here, is my return to Tule Lake. Over the Fourth of July weekend I went on community pilgrimage, along with my oldest kid, my sister, my cousin, and my auntie Sadako (a survivor, and one of my dad’s younger sisters). It was so moving to be there again, to be feeling the echoes of my first trip which I documented in A Place For What We Lose. (I hadn't been back since then.) As before, there were difficult things about the trip. The heat and altitude were a bit challenging, although this time the dorms were air conditioned, which was a huge improvement. The long bus rides there and back. The absence of those who were not there this time, like my Uncle Hiroshi. The power of place yet again: the jail, the vastness of the site itself. Even as much as I have studied and read and written about the site, being there is still an unforgettable experience.
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And the memorial service, which made so many of us emotional. This year we were honored to have Rev. Duncan Williams and the Ireicho at the service and the pilgrimage. Having that book of names at the memorial service, hearing the stories of how tragic these deaths were, accompanied by the stamping of their names often with someone directly connected to that person…then hearing some 400 of us pilgrims reciting together the names of the 323 people who died at Tule Lake, many of them children or infants. Then a short time for many of us to demand that the camps be closed. Sitting or standing in front of the jail, Castle Rock towering behind us, photographers and videographers in front of us—that felt like the right cathartic energy to channel after the invoking of those names and deaths.
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(My one regret is that I did not take a picture of my book at Tule Lake, but I am comforted knowing that the book was there with me, tucked into my backpack at the memorial service and during the bus tours of the site.)
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Threaded throughout the emotionally taxing weekend—a full day of bus travel there and back, plus meals and programming from 6:30AM-10:30PM—was, improbably, so much joy. Some people are people that I only knew online for months or years, but I got to meet them in person this time. Some people are friends that I made from the last pilgrimage. It was beautiful to have friends from the Minidoka Pilgrimage community join us. So many young people, including my oldest child. And there were new friends that I made from the bus rides, from the healing circle discussions, from the sales room. The culminating exhilaration of rousing taiko performances and an audience participation of hundreds of people dancing “Tanko Bushi” is such a cathartic way to end the weekend.
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And of course, to bring my book to the community that seeded it was an honor. I was on a plenary session with several women that I look up to: Emiko Omori and Satsuki Ina, as well as moderator Barbara Takei. Emiko and Barbara screened their documentary “Defiant to the Last” about the jail-within-a-jail at Tule Lake. Satsuki read beautifully from her memoir The Poet and the Silk Girl. I had planned a PowerPoint presentation about researching my grandfather’s life in my own book, but scrapped it at the last minute. There were tears onstage as well as in the audience even before I started to speak, and so I decided to speak from the heart about my book. I concluded by telling the audience that if they were at the pilgrimage, in that room, the book was for them.
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The energy continued to flow all day from that panel for me. To read from my book at the cultural program that evening at the local theater felt like something that I was born to do. I could not see anyone in the audience of some 400+ people—the stage lights were too bright, and I had only my reading glasses—but I felt the quality of the silence as a receptive and listening one. That is a writer’s dream, or at least one of this writer’s dreams.
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Wishing you time and space to breathe deeply this summer,
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Upcoming Events (more writer’s dreams)
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Keep watching my News and Events page on my author website for the latest updates. My webpage for the book also has links to essays that I wrote about the writing process for the book; the most recent one is a post for Brevity, a creative nonfiction writing blog.
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Books will be for sale at all of these events. Bring a friend, tell a friend, send a friend!
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September 19, Jaipur Literature Festival (Seattle), Town Hall, 2PM (more details TBD)
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Northern California, here I come! Still lining up a few more events:
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October 10: J-Sei, Emeryville, CA (time TBD)
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October 11: Yu-Ai Kai Senior Center, San Jose, CA, 1-3PM
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For more media coverage and essays that I’ve published about the book, visit my author website. On my website I will be adding a resource list to go with the book, as well as book club discussion questions. (Book club readers: Has your book club read the book already? What kinds of topics did you talk about? What kinds of questions would you want answered?Reply to this message to help me draft good questions.)
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Refuse To Be Done, Matt Bell (craft book on novel writing)
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The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Kitchen, Yuta Takahashi (“healing fiction” from Japan; it's a series that combines speaking with the dead, a cute cat, and memorable meals)
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Nice Places, Vincent Chu (tragicomic novel about travel and social media)
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Frozen River, Ariel Lawhon (historical fiction for one of my book clubs)
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Lula Dean’s Library of Banned Books (“Hallmark novel” for another book club)
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Coyoteland, Vanessa Hua (finished this novel: recommended!)
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Love Radio (a reread in preparation for my own YA novel in progress. Great character development!)
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For an archive of my past newsletters, please visit my archive page.
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