Join us for a generative writing workshop led by author Naomi Hirahara. FREE and open to all: Students, Faculty, Staff and the Public
Workshop size limited, Registration required: Click here to register on Eventbrite
Often flattened or satirized, Los Angeles comprises vibrant and hidden neighborhoods only known to its residents. Spend two hours considering your home and Los Angeles through either memory, your environmental surroundings or your imagination. Southern California social historian, journalist and mystery writer Naomi Hirahara will provide a few examples on how she has captured the greater Los Angeles in her writings while encouraging participants to mine and document their own experiences. If you are planning to write anything history-based, do a little research before our session.
Naomi Hirahara is an Edgar Award-winning author of multiple traditional mystery series and noir short stories. Her Mas Arai mysteries, which have been published in Japanese, Korean and French, feature a Los Angeles gardener and Hiroshima survivor who solves crimes. The seventh and final Mas Arai mystery, HIROSHIMA BOY, will be launched in Japan in 2021. Her first historical mystery standalone, CLARK AND DIVISION, set in 1944 Chicago, will also be released by Soho Crime next summer. A former reporter and editor with The Rafu Shimpo newspaper, she has written several historical nonfiction books related to Southern California and Japanese America. They include Life after Manzanar; Terminal Island: Lost Communities of Los Angeles Harbor; Green Makers: Japanese American Gardeners in Southern California; A Scent of Flowers: The History of the Southern California Flower Market; and An American Son: The Story of George Aratani, Founder of Mikasa and Kenwood. She and her husband reside in Pasadena, California. For more information, go to her website, www.naomihirahara.com.
The Fall 2020 ISLA Writers Series is curated by Professor Desiree Zamorano for the Institute for the Study of Los Angeles
The ISLA writers series is supported by the Howard and Roberta Ahmanson and the Arts & Urban Experience Initiative, generously funded Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
