Introduction


Joy Kogawa
“Save the Kogawa House!” That has been the cry of many across Canada since Joy Kogawa’s childhood home in Vancouver was first slated for demolition in late 2005. Kogawa is a noted and much-loved Canadian novelist and poet. Her somewhat autobiographical novel Obasan, which focuses on the internment of Japanese Canadians during World War II, is her most popular and well-known work. It has been adapted as a children’s book and an opera and is considered one of Canada’s most important historical novels. In addition to writing, Kogawa has also been an elementary school teacher and studied music at the college level. Her latest projects include a children’s work titled Naomi’s Tree.

Essential Facts

  1. Kogawa was sent to an interment camp in British Columbia as a young child. This experience greatly shaped her later writing.
  2. In 1982, she became involved with Sadan-Kai, an activist trying to get the Canadian government to provide redress to Japanese Canadian mistreated in the 1940s.
  3. Kogawa’s work has tended more toward poetry and become far more free-form in her later years.
  4. Kogawa has been praised for the feminist themes explored in Obasan, a word which can be translated to mean “aunt” or “woman.”
  5. Itsuka is the sequel to Obasan and picks up the story of Naomi, the lead character in Obasan. Although interesting, it has not been as widely loved or critically well received as Obasan.