Central College will welcome Neil Nakadate, author of “Looking After Minidoka: An American Memoir.” Nakadate will read from his book during the Writers Reading at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, in the Boat, Moore and Weller Rooms in Maytag Student Center on Central’s campus. The event is free and open to the public.
During World War II, 110,000 Japanese Americans were removed from their homes and incarcerated by the U.S. government. In “Looking After Minidoka,” the internment camp years become a prism for understanding three generations of Japanese American life, from immigration to the end of the 20th century.
Nakadate blends history, poetry, rescued memory and family stories in an American narrative of hope and disappointment, language and education, employment and social standing, prejudice and pain, communal values and personal dreams.
Nakadate is a graduate of Stanford University and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in American literature at Indiana University. His writing has appeared in various publications including Aethlon, Cottonwood, ISLE and Annals of Internal Medicine. He has edited books on Robert Penn Warren and has written a critical study on Jane Smiley. He is an Iowa State University emeritus professor of English and a past president of Humanities Iowa’s board of directors.
The Geisler Library Writers Reading Series was established in 1987 to promote an appreciation of books and their authors. The series features locally, nationally and internationally known writers reading and discussing their works whether fiction or nonfiction.
