Flyer Info 4/1/04

Available Now !

Keep it Going... Pass it On:
Poetry Inspired by the Manzanar Pilgrimage
By the Manzanar Committee & Manzanar After Dark Project
Price: $10.00, Paperback

LOS ANGELES—To commemorate the 35th annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, the Manzanar Committee and the Manzanar After Dark Project announces the publication of “Keep it Going… Pass it On: Poetry Inspired by the Manzanar Pilgrimage, a 47-page anthology of poetry, songs and spoken word pieces.

This multi-ethnic, multi-generational compilation spans 35 years from 23 contributors and two group pieces. Topics range from the impact of visiting Manzanar to racial profiling following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Featured are award-winning and well-recognized names such as poets: Lawson Fusao Inada, Al Robles and Tony Robles; and performers Nobuko Miyamoto and Lane Nishikawa.

Voices from former World War II camps internees Jim Matsuoka, the Rev. Paul T. Nakamura, Mo Nishida and Inada intermingle with works from students and younger writers such as Rymo Cortado, traci kato-kiriyama, Dana Kawaoka, Emily Hanako Momohara and Yukiya Jerry Waki.

Zara Houshmand, an Iranian American writer and performer, contributed a poem exhibited at the San Jose Museum of Art, while Lee Takasugi, vocalist for the alternative rock band Visiting Violette, presented lyrics to a song performed at the 2003 Manzanar Pilgrimage.

The title of the anthology was inspired by two group pieces that emerged spontaneously at the Manzanar After Dark programs, where students, former camp internees and the general public contributed one line on a piece of paper to “keep the memory going… and to pass it on” to the next generation.

Manzanar was one of 10 War Relocation Authority camps that incarcerated people of Japanese descent during World War II. Since 1969, the Manzanar Committee has sponsored an annual pilgrimage to the camp site. In 1992, Manzanar became a National Historic site, administered as part of the National Park System, after two decades of grassroots lobbying. This year, the Manzanar National Historic Site will celebrate the grand opening of the interpretive center and park headquarters in the newly renovated Manzanar auditorium, which had originally been built by camp internees in 1944.

To order a copy, please make checks payable to the Manzanar Committee and mail to Tak Yamamoto,13733 Rayen Street, Arleta, CA 91331-6143 . The anthology is $10 per book. Shipping and handling is $3.00 for the first copy and $1.00 for each additional copy if shipped to the same address. For more information contact, Tak Yamamoto, takeyyamamoto@msn.com.