Writing the Japanese American Experience
This week we have a special Q&A with authors Connie Matsumoto, Alma Katsu, and Kimiko Guthrie highlighting Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The three authors discuss their family histories with internment camps in the wake of World War II, the importance (and challenges) of remembering and reflecting on the past, and what it means to write the Japanese American experience.
Read the full interview below!
Connie Matsumoto: It is my honor to speak with notable authors Alma Katsu and Kimiko Guthrie. Alma writes novels that combine historical fiction with supernatural and horror elements, and Kimiko Guthrie’s novel also uses the supernatural to explore a woman's struggle to unearth family secrets. Each of us have authored books on the Japanese American experience. Alma’s The Fervor received starred reviews from Library Journal and Booklist. Kimiko’s 2020 debut novel, Block Seventeen, received high praise from Booklist and Kirkus. I’m delighted to facilitate this conversation about our three books. Let’s explore where the themes of our novels intersect.
My historical novel, Of White Ashes, was inspired by the true stories of my husband’s Japanese American parents: his mother incarcerated in two WWII Japanese American camps; his father a Hiroshima survivor. They were two ordinary people who endured extraordinary circumstances. I’ve believed, since the moment of learning their story, it would make a rich and compelling book. What influenced or inspired your story?
Alma Katsu: What draws me to historical fiction is that we often see the mistakes of the past being repeated in current events. I wrote The Fervor while the U.S. experienced a wave of violence against Asians following the politicization of Covid. I’d always hoped to write a story about the camps. I’m half-Japanese but since my mother was from Japan, I didn’t have direct experience. But my husband’s entire family were sent to Topaz. Many of the people who had lived in the camps didn’t like to talk about their experiences, so we read up on it and watched a lot of documentaries. I drew on all these sources to write The Fervor.
Kimiko Guthrie: As a kid growing up in Berkeley in the 1970s, I always heard murmurs about “Camp”—my mom reminiscing and talking with her sisters and brother about their time as kids in Rohwer, Arkansas. These memories were often told in a cheerful tone, and the word “Camp” made me think about pleasant summer camps. But then sometimes, my mom’s smile would fall, and she’d mention the fear and confusion that she had experienced as a young girl. As I learned more about the Japanese American incarceration, the facts collided puzzlingly with the cheerful stories. With Block Seventeen, I wanted to explore the coping mechanisms that many survivors of the incarceration used—and that our society still encourages people to use—when it comes to dealing with racism and other forms of oppression: make the best of things; look on the bright side; resist anger.
Connie Matsumoto: Novelists often draw heavily on their personal experiences. In writing Of White Ashes, I enjoyed the unique dynamic of co-authoring the book with my husband, Kent Matsumoto. Together, we enjoyed quiet conversations with family members who survived the horrors of WWII in dramatically different ways. We read their essays and source materials from the war years, and researched the family history preserved in the National Archives. Using our imaginations, we brainstormed and debated scenes that told the history of what happened to Kent’s parents in ways that conveyed how it felt to live through those traumatic moments. How did family stories influence your story?
Alma Katsu: I learned a lot about the day-to-day experience from speaking with my husband’s family members, but it was surprising how often I’d run into a camp survivor (I worked in DOD for many years). I mentioned that I was writing about the internment to a neighbor, and it turned out her family had been incarcerated at Minidoka. She lent me her family’s priceless collection of records from the camps: hand-drawn maps, rosters, newsletters, all the important day-to-day stuff that often gets lost over time. A lot of information from her family’s trove made it into The Fervor.
Kimiko Guthrie: Family stories are what drove me to write Block Seventeen. I’ve had countless informal conversations with family members about their experiences in “Camp,” as well as more formal interviews. My grandfather was a photographer, so in addition to stories, we have actual footage of their time at the Rohwer camp. I’m fascinated with family history—what’s told and untold, how what we remember changes over time, the direct and indirect ways the past gets passed down. I wanted to capture these refracted lenses in Block Seventeen.
Connie Matsumoto: Each of our novels explore trauma in different ways. A person’s emotional response to tragic events can manifest years later in many ways and make for a compelling story. The main characters in Of White Ashes enjoy a magnetic chemistry, but wounds of trauma run deep and threaten their love as another casualty of war. How did the theme of trauma resonate in your story?
Alma Katsu: When I listened to family and coworkers talk about their feelings of the injustice they were subjected to, it made me angry. I wondered how they dealt with that anger all those years—especially the folks who now worked alongside me to protect the very country that had failed them. The Fervor was a way to process that anger, but also to show that it was okay to be angry. As you know, the reaction of many (not all) was to be obedient, to do whatever was asked of them to show they were loyal Americans. I was saddened to see that, even to this day, some couldn’t let themselves get angry over what had been done to them.
Kimiko Guthrie: In Block Seventeen, the main character, Jane, is very repressed—she has internalized her mother’s coping mechanism of denying the negative, including dark memories about the incarceration. (This is the opposite of my own mother, who not only advocates for healing one’s trauma, but actually became a trauma therapist!) I wanted to show how trauma, especially when it is denied, doesn’t go away, but persists across generations, and often manifests through the unconscious. I chose to present Jane as an unreliable narrator to show the friction between the upbeat person she wants to project to the world and the old, open wounds that are haunting her.
Connie Matsumoto: Novelists wear many hats—researcher, writer, editor, querier, book marketer, literary citizen. It has taken nearly six years to bring Of White Ashes into the world, and along the way I’ve worn each of those hats—often at the same time! I’ve recently enjoyed the excitement of our May 1 launch. And Kent and I are noodling ideas for our next work, so please stay tuned. What are you currently working on or what’s next for you?
Alma Katsu: I’m working on my ninth novel. Currently, I write two very different types of books: the historicals, which are often depicted as horror but really are more speculative fiction; and a spy series, drawing on my 30+ year career in intelligence. I also have an Amazon Original Story coming out on Kindle August 10: Black Vault, which has the CIA looking at unexplained aerial phenomena, also known as UFOs.
Kimiko Guthrie: I’m currently working on a new novel inspired by my grandmother’s life story. My family is so lucky that my aunt recorded my grandmother talking about her childhood in Japan in the early 1900s, as well as her later experiences here in America. Because the novel spans a whole lifetime, I’ve had to research many eras and places—much more so than for Block Seventeen. One period I’ve particularly loved learning about is the pre-World War II Japanese American acting community in Los Angeles. Even though my family is from LA, this is a world I knew nothing about, and I’m really excited to bring it to life to some degree in my next novel.
Constance Hays Matsumoto is an engaged literary citizen who writes stories and poetry intended to influence positive change in our world. Her historical novel Of White Ashes debuted May 1, 2023. Connie is a member of the Authors Guild, Eastern Shore Writers' Association, Historical Novel Society, and Women's National Book Association, and served on the Board of Directors of the Maryland Writers' Association.
Alma Katsu is the award-winning author of eight novels. Her best known, The Hunger, was called one of the 100 favorite horror stories of all time by NPR and continues to be celebrated as a modern classic. The Fervor received three starred industry reviews, was called “a stunning triumph” by Booklist, and has been nominated for three prestigious awards (Stoker, Locus, and Thrillerwriters). Her latest, Red London, second in the Lyndsey Duncan spy series, was an Amazon Editors’ Choice for best mystery/thriller and has been optioned for television.
Kimiko Guthrie is the cofounder of Dandelion Dancetheater and a lecturer at Cal State East Bay. She holds an MFA in choreography from Mills College. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband, kids, and mother. Block Seventeen, which was inspired by her experience growing up with a mother who was held in a Japanese American incarceration camp during WWII, is her first novel.
