PAY-WHAT-YOU-WISH

Two award-winning Japanese American authors, Kathleen Burkinshaw and Naomi Hirahara, join together for the first time to discuss how they felt compelled to tell the stories of their Hiroshima hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) parents through novels. 

Burkinshaw’s middle-grade book, The Last Cherry Blossom, has become a resource for teachers and students under the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs. Hirahara’s Mas Arai mysteries span seven books, with the last Edgar Award-nominated one, Hiroshima Boy, being translated in Japanese for a 2021 release by Shogakukan. These two women, who live on different sides of the United States, will also share the back story of their novels, the problems of white-washing the atomic-bombing, and their quest for peace.

RSVPs are required using the link below. You will be emailed links and instructions to join our conversation on Zoom on Saturday, August 15 at 12 p.m. (PDT). Please confirm that the email that you register with is the best way to reach you. Contact publicprograms@janm.org if you have any additional questions or specific access needs.

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In conjunction with the exhibition Under a Mushroom Cloud: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Atomic Bomb