John Okada's guest appearances

John Okada

The Seattle Public Library - Author Readings and Library Events

Claudia Diaz

The SoundsPress Podcast - Daily Book Review

Alain De Botton

Henry James

Jeannette Walls

Sarah McBride

Ijeoma Oluo

Colson Whitehead

Luvvie Ajayi

Emily Dickinson

David Shields

Michael Eric Dyson

Ava Duvernay

Pete Buttigieg

Robert Thurman

Anthony Ray Hinton

Gretchen Rubin

OwlTail

Co-editor Frank Abe will present images from his new biography of Okada, and join contributors Shawn Wong and Stephen Sumida for a conversation moderated by Tom Ikeda of Densho. "No-No Boy", John Okada's only published novel, centers on a Japanese American who refuses to fight for the country that incarcerated him and his people in World War II and, upon release from federal prison after the war, is cast out by his divided community. In 1957, the novel faced a similar rejection until it was rediscovered and reissued in 1976 to become a celebrated classic of American literature. As a result of Okada's untimely death at age forty-seven, the author's life and other works have remained obscure.This compelling collection offers the first full-length examination of Okada's development as an artist, placing recently discovered writing by Okada alongside essays that reassess his lasting legacy. Meticulously researched biographical details, insight from friends and relatives, and a trove of intimate photographs illuminate Okada's early life in Seattle, military service, and careers as a public librarian and a technical writer in the aerospace industry. This volume is an essential companion to No-No Boy.Co-sponsored by Elliott Bay Book Company, Densho, and the Wing Luke Museum. Free to the public. Books will be available for purchase and signing.Frank Abe is a journalist and producer of the PBS documentary Conscience and the Constitution. Greg Robinson is professor of history at Université du Québec a Montréal whose most recent book is The Great Unknown: Japanese American Sketches . Floyd Cheung is professor of English language and literature and American studies at Smith College and editor of early Asian American literary works by H. T. Tsiang, Sadakichi Hartmann, and others.Frank Abe is a former journalist for KIRO Newsradio and producer of the PBS documentary, "Conscience and the Constitution."Novelist Shawn Wong contributed the chapter, "Republishing and Teaching NO-NO BOY." Professor Stephen Sumida contributed the chapter, "Questioning NO-NO BOY: Text, Contexts, and Subtexts."Tom Ikeda is the founding Executive Director of Densho.

Co-editor Frank Abe will present images from his new biography of Okada, and join contributors Shawn Wong and Stephen Sumida for a conversation moderated by Tom Ikeda of Densho. "No-No Boy", John Okada's only published novel, centers on a Japanese American who refuses to fight for the country that incarcerated him and his people in World War II and, upon release from federal prison after the war, is cast out by his divided community. In 1957, the novel faced a similar rejection until it was rediscovered and reissued in 1976 to become a celebrated classic of American literature. As a result of Okada's untimely death at age forty-seven, the author's life and other works have remained obscure.This compelling collection offers the first full-length examination of Okada's development as an artist, placing recently discovered writing by Okada alongside essays that reassess his lasting legacy. Meticulously researched biographical details, insight from friends and relatives, and a trove of intimate photographs illuminate Okada's early life in Seattle, military service, and careers as a public librarian and a technical writer in the aerospace industry. This volume is an essential companion to No-No <a href="http://Boy.Co" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Boy.Co</a>-sponsored by Elliott Bay Book Company, Densho, and the Wing Luke Museum. Free to the public. Books will be available for purchase and signing.Frank Abe is a journalist and producer of the PBS documentary Conscience and the Constitution. Greg Robinson is professor of history at Université du Québec a Montréal whose most recent book is The Great Unknown: Japanese American Sketches . Floyd Cheung is professor of English language and literature and American studies at Smith College and editor of early Asian American literary works by H. T. Tsiang, Sadakichi Hartmann, and others.Frank Abe is a former journalist for KIRO Newsradio and producer of the PBS documentary, "Conscience and the Constitution."Novelist Shawn Wong contributed the chapter, "Republishing and Teaching NO-NO BOY." Professor Stephen Sumida contributed the chapter, "Questioning NO-NO BOY: Text, Contexts, and Subtexts."Tom Ikeda is the founding Executive Director of Densho.

LISTEN MORE HERE ""No-No Boy has the honor of being among the first of what has become an entire literary canon of Asian American literature,"" writes novelist Ruth Ozeki in her new foreword. First published in 1957, No-No Boy was virtually ignored by a public eager to put World War II and the Japanese internment behind them. It was not until the mid-1970s that a new generation of Japanese American writers and scholars recognized the novel's importance and popularized it as one of literature's most powerful testaments to the Asian American experience. No-No Boy tells the story of Ichiro Yamada, a fictional version of the real-life ""no-no boys."" Yamada answered ""no"" twice in a compulsory government questionnaire as to whether he would serve in the armed forces and swear loyalty to the United States. Unwilling to pledge himself to the country that interned him and his family, Ichiro earns two years in prison and the hostility of his family and community when he returns home to Seattle. As Ozeki writes, Ichiro's ""obsessive, tormented"" voice subverts Japanese postwar ""model-minority"" stereotypes, showing a fractured community and one man's ""threnody of guilt, rage, and blame as he tries to negotiate his reentry into a shattered world.""

LISTEN MORE HERE ""No-No Boy has the honor of being among the first of what has become an entire literary canon of Asian American literature,"" writes novelist Ruth Ozeki in her new foreword. First published in 1957, No-No Boy was virtually ignored by a public eager to put World War II and the Japanese internment behind them. It was not until the mid-1970s that a new generation of Japanese American writers and scholars recognized the novel's importance and popularized it as one of literature's most powerful testaments to the Asian American experience. No-No Boy tells the story of Ichiro Yamada, a fictional version of the real-life ""no-no boys."" Yamada answered ""no"" twice in a compulsory government questionnaire as to whether he would serve in the armed forces and swear loyalty to the United States. Unwilling to pledge himself to the country that interned him and his family, Ichiro earns two years in prison and the hostility of his family and community when he returns home to Seattle. As Ozeki writes, Ichiro's ""obsessive, tormented"" voice subverts Japanese postwar ""model-minority"" stereotypes, showing a fractured community and one man's ""threnody of guilt, rage, and blame as he tries to negotiate his reentry into a shattered world.""

No-No Boy by John Okada - Book Review by SoundsPress.com

In this podcast, we touch base on hardships that Japanese’s Americans faced due to World War II.

Hardships Japanese Americans Faced Post WWII with Connections to “No-No Boy” by John Okada