Additional Attendees
• Mary Jo Kubota-Arcarese - reads folk tales using Kamishibai cards (traditional Japanese style storytelling) 10:30am
• Farrukh Khan - South Asian kite making demonstration
• Desiree Finau - flower leis
• Appetizers supplied by Tonia Yeh of Crouching Tiger Restaurant
Reads from her father Jack Matsuoka's ground breaking cartoon book Poston Camp II - a memoir of his World War II internment camp experience in Poston, Arizona.
Banjos and accordion duo, featuring folk musician and writer Charlie Chin (writer of China's Bravest Girl), accompanied by retired schoolteacher George Louzensky, will offer a selection of sing-along-songs and folk song favorites for people of all ages.
Author and editor of Pacific Voices: Talk Story v1-4, a collection of personal narratives by Pacific Islanders, will hold a workshop on preserving stories through oral histories.
Librarian, actor, playwright, poet, and author will be performing his acclaimed play The Betrayed with actress Sue Asano. A short poetry reading of his internment camp experience will follow their performance. Hiroshi Kashiwagi won the American Book Award for his book Swimming in the American: A Memoir and Selected Writings. His latest book is a collection of his poems called Ocean Beach.
Documentary photographer and author of America's Second-Class Veterans will speak on the subject of his book, Filipino World War II veterans and their struggle for recognition and equity.
In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the Asian American Curriculum Project, Inc. (AACP), the Foster City Library, the San Mateo Organization of Chinese Americans (SM OCA), and the San Mateo Japanese American Citizens League (SM JACL) are pleased to present this event.
Additional Authors In Attendance
Karen Yamashita 10am
Author, playwright, and Associate Professor of Literature at University of California, Santa Cruz, where she teaches creative writing and Asian American literature. She is a recipient of the American Book Award and Janet Heidinger Kafka Award. Her works include Circle K Cycles, Tropic of Orange, Brazil-Maru, Through the Arc of the Rain Forest, and her latest I Hotel.
Grace Takahashi 11am
Author of the novel To Breathe the Sky - A story about a Japanese American family in Oregon torn apart by World War II. To Breathe the Sky explores the effects of the loss of liberty and physical contact with family, the influence of culture and religion on the choices one makes, and the unseverable bond between parent and child.
Author of the novels February Flowers and Beautiful as Yesterday: A Novel - a story that stretches from mid-century China to the US at the turn of the millennium, and explores issues of identity, of family and friendship, love and loss. Written in beautifully crafted prose, Beautiful as Yesterday is a penetrating exploration of what it means to belong, and the impact of history and memories on one's life.
Author of the novel Only a Girl - the story of three generations of Chinese women struggle for identity against a political backdrop of the World Depression, World War II, and the Indonesian Revolution.
Author of The Golden Kite, which chronicles Major Yasumasa Fukushima's 1892 9000 mile journey from Berlin to Vladivostok.
Lewis Kawahara 12-12:30pm
Co-author of Plant Preserve Protect, a history of the struggles and successes of the Japanese Americans who formed the Professional Gardeners' Federation of Northern California.
Author of The Woman Who Ate Chinatown: A San Francisco Odyssey, an all encompassing tour of San Francisco's Chinatown and Fong-Torres' wealth of knowledge on Chinese culture, food, and cooking. This book includes information on other Bay Area Chinese communities, Fong-Torres famous family, and even has a chapter with her favorite recipes.
