Kiyo Sato, nurse, military veteran, and mother of four, wrote of her family’s experience of being swept off to a concentration camp and ultimately surviving and succeeding.  Dandelion through the Crack (Willow Valley Press, 2007) garnered high praise and numerous awards, including the William Saroyan Prize for International writing (2008) and the NCPA Best Overall Book Award (2008). The Smithsonian Institution invited Kiyo to speak at their Asian Pacific American Program, which marked the 67th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 90666 and the subsequent imprisonment of 120,000 Japanese Americans. While serving in the Air Force, she earned the rank of Captain and completed her nursing education.  As a civilian public health nurse, Kiyo developed the Blackbird Vision Screening System to detect eye problems in young children.  In 1999,  Kiyo and other members of the VFW Post 8985 developed a video and workbook for school children about the Japanese-American Evacuation, ”Lessons from Our Lifetime.”  Kiyo’s memoir was reprinted as Kiyo’s Story: A Japanese-American Family’s Quest for the American Dream (Soho Press, 2009).  Kiyo was not pleased with the new cover nor title. She is currently working on a second book and continues to give presentations on the Japanese Internment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dorothy Rice, a San Francisco native, now lives in Sacramento. At 60, following a career in environmental protection, Dorothy earned an MFA in creative writing from UC Riverside, Palm Desert. Her first book, The Reluctant Artist: Joe Rice (1918 – 2011), a memoir/art book about her father, was published by Shanti Arts (2015). She has essays and short stories in a number of literary journals, including Brain, Child Magazine, Literary Mama, the Rumpus, Proximity, Longridge Review the Tin House blog and the Brevity blog. In 2018, one of her stories was nominated for a Pushcart and she won Second Place in the annual Kalanithi Writing Contest for her narrative nonfiction, In Photographs, about her mother’s descent into Alzheimer’s. Rice is working on her next book, a memoir about coming of age in her sixties, as well as flash-length fiction and nonfiction.

You can find her at www.dorothyriceauthor.com and @dorothyrowena.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frederick K. Foote, Jr. was born in Sacramento, California and educated in Vienna, Virginia, and northern California. He started writing short stories and poetry in 2013.

Since 2014 Frederick has published over two hundred stories and poems including literary, science fiction, fables, and horror genres. Frederick has published two short story collections, For the Sake of Soul, (2015) and Crossroads Encounters, (2016).

To see a list of Frederick’s publications, go to https://fkfoote.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Al teaches journalist techniques to writers desiring to improve. He has had a varied career. In addition to being a prolific writer and oral storyteller, Al has given storytelling seminars. For the past 15 plus years, he has been a print journalist, an online magazine publisher, a storyteller, and a movement awareness teacher. Al is an interesting presenter. He sometimes uses humor in both writing and speaking.  His original training was as a mechanical and project management engineer. He has also worked as a raft and kayaking guide.