Kogawa, Joy (1935- ) : Joy Kogawa is known for her novels, poetry, essays, and activism. She was born in Vancouver in 1935. As a second-generation Japanese Canadian or nisei, she has told the stories of Japanese-Canadians in her writing. Kogawa and her family were evacuated to Slocan, British Columbia and later to Coaldale, Alberta during the Second World War. She has also been involved in seeking redress from the Canadian government for the internment of twenty thousand Japanese Canadians during World War II. She was made a Member of the Order of Canada. From 1983 to 1985 Kogawa worked with the National Association of Japanese Canadians. Under the War Measures Act in 1942, many Japanese Canadians had lost their property and possessions. Kogawa pursued studies in education at the University of Alberta and taught elementary school in Coaldale for a year. She then studied music at the University of Toronto followed by studies at the Anglican Women's Training College and the University of Saskatchewan. In 1957, she married, had two children, and divorced in 1968. Joy Kogawa has published several collections of poetry, essays, children's literature and the novels Obasan, Istuka, and The Rain Ascends. Obasan won several book awards; it focuses on Japanese Canadians and the injustices they experienced during and after the Second World War. The central character of this book is Naomi, who reappears in Kogawa's children's book, Naomi's Road and again in Itsuka. The latter text concentrates on the emotional and political involvement of Naomi in the Japanese-Canadian redress movement. Kogawa's most recent novel, The Rain Ascends, deals with an emotional issue of a different kind: the sexual abuse of children by a Protestant clergyman. Website: 1040
