- JAPANESE-AMERICAN POET TO GIVE MLK CELEBRATION READING
- The acclaimed Japanese-American writer Lawson Fusao Inada, poet laureate for the state of Oregon, will give a reading of his work Jan. 18 as part of Valparaiso University's celebration of the life Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Inada, a professor emeritus of writing at Southern Oregon University and winner of the American Book Award for Legends from Camp, will present a poetry reading at 7 p.m. in the Center for the Arts on campus. The reading is free and open to the public.
In addition to his reading, Inada will participate in Valpo's MLK Celebration by joining a Jan. 19 focus session exploring the American dream from his perspective as a Japanese-American who spent time in internment camps during World War II.
Critics have hailed Inada's poems as playful, full of life and easy to understand, even when examining somber topics. Poems in "Legends from Camp" address jazz music, the Sand Creek Massacre and the internment of Japanese-Americans among other subjects.
Inada has written four other books, served as editor of the acclaimed anthology Only What We Could Carry: The Japanese-American Internment Experience, has twice won Poetry Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and was narrator for the PBS specials "Children of the Camps" and "Conscience and the Constitution."
Food for Thought – a book discussion group that includes Valparaiso faculty and staff as well as members of the community – will lead the Jan. 19 focus session with Inada. Members of the community are encouraged to read Legends from Camp and join in a discussion of the book. For information about copies of Legends from Camp available for lending, contact Gloria Ruff, assistant curator of Brauer Museum of Art, at Gloria.Ruff@valpo.edu or (219) 464-5276.
More information about Valparaiso's MLK Celebration, with events taking place Jan. 15 through 22, is available on the Web. Most events are free and open to the public.