National Post : Rescuing Obasan’s House
National Post – Rescuing Obasan’s House: a story about Joy Kogawa and the campaign to save the literary icon’s childhood home.
TLC joins community efforts to save Joy Kogawa’s House
TLC joins community efforts to save Joy Kogawa’s House. TLC’s Executive Director Bill Turner said that the fundraising campaign is underway. “We are calling on everyone who has been moved by Joy Kogawa’s writing to contribute to saving the house. Your contribution will not only recognize and honour Joy’s accomplishments but will also provide the opportunity for a writers-in-residence program that will enable a new generation of writers to be inspired by her work. We are also calling on everyone who has been touched by Canada’s past treatment of communities such as the Japanese-Canadian community. This house will stand as a symbol of the wrongs that were committed in the past, but also as a symbol of what a community can achieve when it pulls together.”
How important is saving Kogawa House II (by Anton Wagner)
Anton Wagner of the Save the Kogawa Homestead Committee talks about Vancouver, one of Canada’s most dynamic cities and our gateway to the East, needing a writers-in-residence centre as has been proposed for the Joy Kogawa House so that Canadian and international writers can observe and write about the unique evolving multi and intercultural society that is developing in Canada.
How important is saving Kogawa House?
How important is saving Kogawa House? What other literary landmarks are in Vancouver? Alan Twigg, author and publisher of BC Book World, says that Vancouver only really has one literary landmark, and that one was controversial and created under protest – the gravesite of poet Pauline Johnson. Some BC homes have been turned into historic landmarks or museums. But none that I know of are by writers, nor homes that were confiscated from Japanese Canadians during World War 2. In addition to becoming a writers’ retreat, Kogawa House would also represent the tragedy of the upheaval and internment of the Japanese-Canadian community.
Fundraising drive launched for Joy Kogawa House
Vancouver City Council voted unanimously on November 3 to grant a 120-day demolition delay order to preserve the home and to recognize its historical and cultural heritage. The four-month period will allow the Save Kogawa House Committee to raise funds to purchase the property and convert it into a major centre for Canadian and international writers.
Save Kogawa House Concert | Report by Todd Wong
Todd Wong describes the Save Kogawa House Concert at Vancouver Public Library, including the performance of Harry Aoki and Alison Nishihara and the Vancouver Opera Touring Ensemble.