“Finding Your One True Story.” That was the title of author Meg Medina’s lecture at Hamline University’s MFAC residency this January. I was in the audience, pondering her words. Finding your “one true story” implies that we all have one true story. What was mine? Last year, 2017, was a big year for Sachiko. I had
This past November, I had the opportunity to travel to Nagasaki again to visit Sachiko Yasui. I also had a chance to reconnect with my good friend Dr. Takayuki Miyanishi, Professor of Environmental Science at Nagasaki University and president of the Nagasaki-Saint Paul Sister City Committee. Dr. Miyanishi was also Sachiko Yasui and my translator
Pictures from a Hiroshima Schoolyard is a film for everyone—teachers, community leaders, people of faith, people with big hearts—and world leaders, particularly our world leaders. Pictures from a Hiroshima Schoolyard will help all of us understand the unimaginable destruction of nuclear war and the power of kindness and generosity to create pathways to peace. I came
This August, I was invited to Madison, Wisconsin to share Sachiko Yasui’s story of surviving the Nagasaki atomic bomb. The Women’s International League for Peace and Justice and Physicians for Social Responsibility were my hosts. I thoroughly enjoyed speaking at Madison’s “Lanterns for Peace” event and at the Central Library, but the most surprising venue
Philosopher Martin Buber has a quote I admire: “All real living is meeting.” Lately, I’ve taken that quote to heart and have started asking colleagues for intentional conversations around topics we both believe are important. Last week, I asked Eden Prairie teacher Kevin McGee if we could go out to dinner and talk about something
In 2012, while working on my research for SACHIKO, I received a Kawase Family Scholarship to travel to Hiroshima. The scholarship stipulated that I would attend two events: the international Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony on August 6, the anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city, and Hiroshima City University’s week long Peace Symposium. My
On Wednesday, May 17, I had an author’s experience that turned into an author’s gift. I was invited to Valley View Middle School in Edina, Minnesota, to hear what 7th grade students had to say about my book Sachiko. Valley View media specialist Heather Palmer gathered the 7th graders into the library for our book
Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story is the 2017 winner of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award for books for older children. When I got the phone call from Heather Palmer, chair of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Committee telling me of the award, goosebumps ran up and down my arm. Her e‑letter of congratulations
When I first received an invitation to the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville to participate on a panel titled, “Nuclear War: Survivors, Resistors, and Current Perils,” I hesitated. Of course, it would be an opportunity to share my book Sachiko with a new audience. Amnesty International and the Charlottesville Center for Peace and