Graphic Novelists Tamiko Nimura and Kiku Hughes in conversation with Bruce Rutledge

This event has been updated and will now be hosted on Zoom.

Co-presented with HistoryLink and Chin Music Press.

Join authors Kiku Hughes and Tamiko Nimura for an evening of conversation and reflection on the Japanese American internment camp experience, as illustrated in their graphic novels Displacement and We Hereby Refuse. Kiku and Tamiko will be joined by Chin Music Press founder, Bruce Rutledge.

Order a copy:

We Hereby Refuse by Tamiko Nimura>>

Displacement by Kiku Huges >> 

In Displacement Kiku Hughes weaves a riveting, bittersweet tale that highlights the intergenerational impact and power of memory. On vacation in San Francisco, a teenage Kiku suddenly finds herself displaced to the 1940s Japanese-American internment camp that her late grandmother, Ernestina, was forcibly relocated to during World War II. These displacements keep occurring until Kiku finds herself "stuck" back in time. Living alongside her young grandmother and other Japanese-American citizens in internment camps, Kiku gets the education she never received in history class.

We Hereby Refuse co-authored by Frank Abe and Tamiko Nimura explores the stories of Japanese Americans who complied when evicted from their homes -- but refused to submit to imprisonment in American concentration camps without a fight. In this groundbreaking graphic novel, we meet: JIM AKUTSU, the inspiration for John Okada's No-No Boy, who refuses to be drafted from the camp at Minidoka when classified as a non-citizen, an enemy alien; HIROSHI KASHIWAGI, who resists government pressure to sign a loyalty oath at Tule Lake, but yields to family pressure to renounce his U.S. citizenship; and MITSUYE ENDO, a reluctant recruit to a lawsuit contesting her imprisonment, who refuses a chance to leave the camp at Topaz so that her case could reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

We Hereby Refuse by Frank Abe & Tamiko Nimura with artwork by Ross Ishikawa & Matt Sasaki is a co-production of Chin Music Press and Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience.

About Kiku Hughes

Kiku Hughes is a cartoonist from the Seattle area. Her work has been published by Dark Horse, Short Box and the First Second. Her debut graphic novel, "Displacement," came out in 2020 and tells the story of her family's experiences during Japanese American incarceration.

About Tamiko Nimura

Tamiko Nimura is an Asian American writer living in Tacoma, Washington. She has degrees in English from UC Berkeley (BA) and the University of Washington, Seattle (MA, PhD).  Her training in literature and American ethnic studies prepared her to research, document, and tell the stories of people of color. Tamiko contributes frequently to HistoryLink.org as a member of the Pierce County Editorial Committee. She has published articles on Tacoma’s Nihonmachi (Japantown), and Fife mayor Robert Mizukami.

About Chin Music Press

Founded in 2002 by Bruce Rutledge and Yuko Enomoto, Chin Music Press is a curiously bibliophilic indie publisher located deep in the recesses of Seattle's historic Pike Place Market. For 15 years, Chin Music has been creating beautiful, engaging, and affordable books on a wide range of quirky and eclectic topics.

About HistoryLink

HistoryLink.org is the first and largest encyclopedia of regional history created expressly for the Internet. HistoryLink is dedicated to the principle that history belongs to the entire community and that a better understanding of past events can improve public debate and decisions and enrich the lives of individuals.