Densho Highlights JA Novels

Thanks to Brian Niiya at the always-excellent Densho project for this review revisiting this body of work by 12 Japanese American book authors, including myself and others I admire.

He writes:

"When we think about literary works that incorporate the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans, most of us probably think of either one of the bestsellers by non-Japanese authors (e.g. Snow Falling on Cedars or The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet) or older “classic” works by Japanese American authors such as the recently re-issued No-No Boy and Citizen 13660 or Farewell to Manzanar and Obasan. But there have actually been a good number of more recent works by Japanese American authors, many of which are not as well-known as they should be. We’ve put together a list of a dozen novels with an interesting take on the forced removal and incarceration during World War II."

For years now Densho's laudable mission has been to preserve the testimonies of Japanese Americans "who were unjustly incarcerated during World War II before their memories are extinguished" and Brian Niiya has been a leading chronicler of the community's story.

Find some voices that should be more widely appreciated here: https://densho.org/twelve-novels-japanese-american-authors-centered-wwii-incarceration/