Category Archives: multicultural

Oral histories and interviews strike gold

While writing Cherry Blossoms in Twilight, my mother’s stories of everyday life around WWII in Japan, my eyes were opened to the gold of all personal stories, especially of culture and history. Sure, I had heard plenty of Mom’s childhood stories of … Continue reading

Posted in capturing memories, Cherry Blossoms in Twilight, heritage, history, multicultural, storytelling, traditions, war stories, WWII | Tagged , | 3 Comments

“The Boy at the Gate” memoir is a poignant song

At the age of eight, Danny Ellis was separated from his siblings and dropped off at the most notorious orphanage in Ireland. The Artane Industrial School housed 800 orphans and delinquents that nobody wanted—a noisy, ragtag bunch of “humanity’s lost … Continue reading

Posted in bad memories, book reviews, book talk, multicultural | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Canton Elegy: Astonishing memoir of Chinese history and a father’s love

Recently I finished reading an advance copy of Canton Elegy by Stephen Jin Nom Lee. It is one of the most beautiful memoirs I’ve ever read, and I’ve read a LOT of memoirs. I wrote about Canton Elegy in April 2012 when I saw … Continue reading

Posted in book reviews, book talk, grandparents, history, inspiration, letters, multicultural, war stories, WWII | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment