The Japanese American National Museum presents “Daughters of Hibakusha Tell Hiroshima Stories” on Saturday, Aug. 15, from 12 to 1 p.m. Pacific Time.
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 survivor) 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 into Japanese for a 2021 release by Shogakukan.
These two women, who live on different sides of the U.S., 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. The link can be found at www.janm.org/events. The fee is pay-what-you-wish. You will be emailed links and instructions to join the conversation on Zoom. An online meet-and-greet for JANM members will be held at 11:15 a.m. Contact publicprograms@janm.org if you have any additional questions or specific access needs.
Books about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, including those by the authors, are available at the JANM Store.
In conjunction with the exhibition “Under a Mushroom Cloud: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Atomic Bomb.”