searching for peace

Greetings from Dr. Takayuki Miyanishi:
Caren Stelson and Sachiko’s
translator from Nagasaki

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

December 13, 2017 No Comments

Pictures from a Hiroshima Schoolyard:
A Necessary Story for Our Time

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

October 10, 2017 No Comments

A New Audience for Sachiko: Doctors

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

August 30, 2017 No Comments

“All Real Living is Meeting“
Meet Kevin McGee

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

July 24, 2017 No Comments

Paying It Forward

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

June 23, 2017 No Comments

Can a Children’s Book Change the World?

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

May 23, 2017 No Comments

Sachiko Yasui and Jane Addams, Teachers of Peace

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

April 28, 2017 No Comments

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Let Our Voices Be Heard

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

March 31, 2017 No Comments

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A Call to Action

What is peace? What kind of person do I want to be? Pursue answers to these questions. These were the last words Sachiko Yasui shared with me for our book before I sent in my manuscript to editor Carol Hinz at Carolrhoda/Lerner Publishing Group. Sachiko’s words also have been ringing in my ears ever since I wrote

March 7, 2017 No Comments