Joy Kogawa, one of North America's most celebrated writers, is the award-winning author of three novels, seven collections of poetry and two books for children. Obasan, which the New York Times called "a tour de force...brilliantly poetic in its sensibility," continues to be taught across North America, and the opera based on her children's book Naomi's Road has toured in Canada and the United States. Kogawa has worked to educate Canadians about the history of Japanese Canadians and is a long-time activist in the areas of peace and reconciliation. In 2010, the Japanese government honoured her with the Order of the Rising Sun.
"Gently to Nagasaki ultimately offers a sobering treatise on the
nature of some wounds: we can carry them with us long after their
surface has healed and the pain they cause might never fully
disappear." -- Brett Grubisic, Macleans
"Gently to Nagasaki is a mature work of history and spirituality;
bravely detailing the intersection between mass global evils and
those perpetrated intimately by members of one's own family.
Kogawa's memoir deeply explores how denial works in regards to
racism, pedophilia, nuclear power, Canadian internment camps and
Japanese war atrocities. It reveals how, in the midst of betrayal,
there is still a place for trust." -- Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun
spirituality, diversity and migration columnist
"As a writer of memoir, she is taking full-ownership of the
material, de-storyfying it, as it were, by revealing her troubled
journey through life. Her gaze is unflinching as she confronts the
impact upon herself of her double-shame -- the facts, the history,
the emotions are all laid bare." -- M.A.C. Farrant, The Vancouver
Sun
"Experimental in style, incorporating fragments of poetry, letters
and journal writing, Gently to Nagasaki encompasses a wide variety
of topics ranging from Christianity and Japanese history to climate
change and nuclear power. It sometimes reads less like a memoir
than a collection of loosely interwoven essays." -- Leslie
Shimotakahara, The National Post
"In her truth telling of both personal and communal events that
brought shame, betrayal, anger and suffering into her own life as
well as into many Japanese lives, she strikes a cord that resonates
with the reader in our shared experience of what it means to be
human. But rather than leaving the reader in the slough of despond,
she also addresses the healing qualities of reconciliation, trust
and thanksgiving. Her story ends with the image of a cleansing and
abundant waterfall--a sure symbol of hope and joy." -- The Very
Reverend and Honourable Lois Wilson
"In the spirit of breaking the us/them dichotomy of victimization,
Kogawa airs many attitudes with which the reader might disagree.
Disagree and read on: Conciliation is the reward for those with the
patience to work through their discomfort." -- Jade Colbert, The
Globe and Mail
"Joy Kogawa treats her intensely confessional spiritual journey
through the intimately personal and prophetically public subjects
in this book. ... With the life-long prolific and poetic writings
behind her, she brings this memoir to the world as she shares her
eventful earth journey that is her spiritual home." -- Fumitaka
Matsuoka, Author and Professor of Theology at Pacific School of
Religion and the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley,
California
"One of the most important memoirs in recent Canadian literature.
It brings together personal and political anguish and washes them
with words and the waters of mercy." -- Mary Jo Leddy, CM, Canadian
writer, speaker, theologian and social activist
"With a poet's eye for beauty, Kogawa offers an intimate take on
how she has coped with the seismic events that have shaped her life
including the internment of the Japanese Canadians, their fight for
their redress, and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The
result is a graceful, brave, sometimes unsettling, always deeply
compassionate account of what it means to live a just and kind life
in troubling times." -- Alexandra Shimo, Invisible North: The
Search for Answers on a Troubled Reserve
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