 Friends, I’m going to be at YALLFEST aka #YALLWRITE this November! 🍂 Mark your calendars for Nov. 13-14 and check the YALLFEST website for the amazing author lineup—full schedule to come! ☀️ See you there!
 I am in SHOCK. WE ARE NOT FREE is a National Book Award FINALIST in Young People’s Literature!!!!!! Thank you so much to the National Book Foundation & the judges for this incredible honor, and HUGE CONGRATS to all the other finalists! 🎉 For the full list, check this article in the Washington Post!
📸 by the amazing team at HMH! 💜  Have I gushed enough about the WE ARE NOT FREE audiobook yet? NEVER! This audiobook is amazing! 💙 With ELEVEN narrators of Japanese descent bringing these characters to life, the audiobook feels less like an audiobook and so much more like a group of kids just telling their stories to their friends. It feels real, and concrete, and personal, and absolutely perfect. (My mom actually admitted to me that she likes the audiobook more than the physical book! 😅) I cannot tell you how much I adore this project and how lucky and grateful I am to have had so many talented actors lend their voices to We Are Not Free. 💙 Thank you so much to the team at HMH Audio and all the narrators:
Get it the audiobook: 💙 Audible 💙 Libro.fm 💙 Kobo
The last #WeAreNotFree Research Stories is here! It's 1945, near the end of the war, and my grandpa is drafted into the army. The day after he leaves, he starts writing to my grandma, and in those letters I found the beginning of their love story. ? Watch to find out more!
CATCH UP ON THE REST OF THIS SERIES: * Research Stories #1: Best Story Behind a Photograph * Research Stories #2: Most Striking Moment from an Interview * Research Stories #3: Most Memorable Travel Experience * Research Stories #4: Best Surprise from a Primary Source  I literally burst into tears when I saw this! Thank you so much to the National Book Foundation and the judges for selecting We Are Not Free (Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon) for the National Book Awards Longlist for Young People's Literature, and congratulations to all the authors!!! What an honor, truly what an honor. I'm so, so grateful.
I also want to thank my agent Barbara Poelle and the entire team at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt because this would never have been possible without their hard work and support. So much gratitude to this incredible group of people--thank you, thank you, thank you. Check out the announcement in the New Yorker and see the National Book Foundation website for descriptions of all the amazing books!
More Research Stories! ? One of the coolest things about writing about a history you're personally connected to is finding all these little connections between yourself and your research. Today, I'm talking about the Best Surprise from a Primary Source! ?
CATCH UP ON THE REST OF THE SERIES: * Research Stories #1: Best Story Behind a Photograph * Research Stories #2: Most Striking Moment from an Interview * Research Stories #3: Most Memorable Travel Experience  BOOK OR CAKE? 📖🎂🔪 Can you spot the difference? Scroll down to see! Thank you to my mama, who brought me a We Are Not Free book cake by Cake Board Desserts on my launch day! And to the family & neighbors who gathered outside & socially distanced to celebrate and share with me! 🍰 In case you weren’t able to make my launch party on Tuesday, the recording is now available on the JCCCNC Facebook page—🎉 go here to watch! . This week has been such a whirlwind, and I have felt so supported and loved. 💛 Thank you so much to everyone who pre-ordered, showed up to party, posted about your excitement, reviewed the book, recommended it to your friends and family, and in general showered this book with enthusiasm and joy. I am so, so grateful that you are here with me. 🌻
Time for another Research Stories! While dreaming up & drafting #WeAreNotFree, I visited three of the incarceration camps--Topaz, Manzanar & Tule Lake--which left a huge impression on me. This week, I talk about how these trips impacted the telling of this story in my Most Memorable Travel Experience!
CATCH UP ON THE REST OF THIS SERIES: * Research Stories #1: Best Story Behind a Photograph * Research Stories #2: Most Striking Moment from an Interview And just an extra thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate the launch of We Are Not Free last night! It was such a special evening, and I am so grateful for all your love and support. Plus, in case you missed it, you can watch the recording on the Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Northern California Facebook here!  Well, little book, the day is here. ❤️ You’ve been in my heart since I was twelve years old, and I am so grateful that we’re here now. Our time together has been both a responsibility and an honor, and I hope that we have done justice to this history, these stories, our family. Writing you was a gift, and I hope that, as you make your way into the world, that gift continues to give. Go well. ❤️
The pre-order campaign ends at midnight tonight! Buy from Books Inc., Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or find your local independent bookstore on IndieBound! And now for some gratitude. ❤️ Many, many thanks to my agent, Barbara Poelle, my editor, Catherine Onder, and the whole team at HMH for believing in this project and for ushering it into the world with such thoughtfulness and care. ❤️ Endless love and gratitude to my family for their generosity with their stories, for their belief in me, and for their decades of unwavering support. ❤️ And thanks to my readers—the ones who have been with me since The Reader, the ones who are just finding me, and all the ones in-between and to come. Your time and attention and care mean the world to me. Thank you so much for being here. ❤️ Pre-order campaign ends at MIDNIGHT tonight, so click here for details on how to get your receipts in and claim your gifts! AND come celebrate with me TONIGHT at 6pm PDT! Misa Sugiura and I have a whole slate of fun for you—conversation, games, and special guest appearances by Grace Rolek, Terry Kitagawa, and my very own Bachan! ❤️ This event is co-hosted by Books Inc. & the Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Northern California, and though registration is currently FULL, JCCCNC will be live-streaming the event on their Facebook page. Go here to watch at 6pm!  UPDATE! We are at capacity for my virtual launch party on Tuesday, 9/1 at 6pm PDT! Registration is now closed, but JCCCNC will be broadcasting the program on Facebook Live for anyone who was unable to sign up in advance. CLICK HERE TO WATCH. For my virtual launch this year, I'm partnering with longtime Japantown institution, the Japanese Community and Cultural Center of Northern California, and local Bay Area bookseller, Books Inc. Even though we can't all be together right now, it's such an honor to be working with these local organizations, and I hope you continue to give them your support! Tuesday, September 1 at 6pm PDT with Misa Sugiura (This Time Will Be Different) and THREE very special surprise guests! Please register here for the Zoom link. And there's still time to pre-order your copy! You have a few days left to pre-order your copy of We Are Not Free and submit your receipt to receive your pre-order gifts!
With your proof of purchase (or proof of library request) for We Are Not Free, you can get:
To enter, submit the following to chee.preorders @ gmail . com (without the spaces):
***If you order from Books Inc. in San Francisco, you can get the whole set of six signed collectible bookmarks, as seen here! This offer is good while supplies last. You can order from any retailer, like Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or your favorite local bookstore, which you can find at IndieBound! Just don't forget to send in your receipt! |
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