Acknowledgments

Certainly without the history of my family, this story might never have been told. My mother, her family, and her family’s family were Japanese American internees at Tule Lake, California, Topaz, Utah, and Jerome and Rohwer in Arkansas. From their history came the themes of judgment and isolation.

When my parents married, only thirteen years after the end of World War II, I know my father’s family must have expressed concerns that he married a Japanese woman. But upon getting to know my mother, they accepted her with open arms and loved all of us equally. From my father’s family came the theme of acceptance without regard to color.

Countless people have helped me on my long and winding path to publication. Without their help and support, this book might not have been written.

First, thank you to Dusty Richards and Velda Brotherton, the tireless mentors who began the Northwest Arkansas Writers Workshop more than twenty-five years ago. What a blessing it was for me when, six years ago, I found the group of writers they lead. Though I’ve always loved writing, it was on the first night I attended this critique group that I became a serious writer. For most of those six years, the fine writers of the NWA Writers Workshop patiently listened to and critiqued what was to become The Red Kimono, five pages each week. Their encouragement and motivation were invaluable to me.

Within that group, I also found a sisterhood—four women who have given me encouragement, critique, and friendship. Writers are a different breed and, although each of us in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pen is different from the other, our love of writing bonds us. With Linda Apple, Pamela Foster, Patty Stith, and Ruth Weeks by my side, I have never felt alone on this journey.

Thank you to Ned Downie for his insights into growing up in southeast Arkansas and for originally suggesting I submit my manuscript to the University of Arkansas Press, though it took me two years to listen to him. Thanks also to Rosalie Gould, former mayor of McGehee, Arkansas, who graciously shared her incredible knowledge of the internment camps with me. She later donated her priceless collection of documents and artwork that she had let me peruse to the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies in Little Rock.

Two words from author Jodi Thomas changed my writing life: “What if?” From this simple question, dozens of scenes and characters have been born in The Red Kimono.

Thank you to my beta readers, Marsha Davis, Paul Stevenson, and Maria Tillman, for sharing critique on the story as a whole. They told me what worked—the scenes that made them laugh and cry. As important and perhaps more difficult, they told me what didn’t work. For that honesty, I am very grateful. A very special thank you to Maria White Tillman and her sister, Starlina “Nina” White Reid, who, as neighbors during my childhood, were the inspiration for Jubie Lee Franklin.

A huge thank you to everyone at the University of Arkansas Press. I couldn’t have been happier when Lawrence Malley requested a meeting upon receiving my query, and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Melissa King, Brian King, and everyone involved as we prepared my manuscript for publication. A special thank you to Pamela Hill, whose sharp eyes and focus helped me polish and fine-tune my manuscript.

In everything I do, I save the best for last. So, my biggest thank you goes to my husband, Stephen, for his patience, faith, persistence, and love; for carrying my load for so many years; for listening to my readings time after time after time; for trying to understand why I edited and re-edited and re-edited. I said earlier that writers are a different breed. So are their spouses.