Join us for the 2024 Arizona Author Series, live on Zoom. In February, Ken Mochizuki will present on his book Michi Challenges History: From Farm Girl to Costume Designer to Relentless Seeker of the Truth: The Life of Michi Nishiura Weglyn. There will be time for questions from the audience after the talk.

About the Book: When she was only a teenager, Weglyn was interred at the Arizona Gila River concentration camp during World War II. Yet, it wasn’t until 1968 when she was already a renowned costume designer for Broadway shows that she embarked on a quest to uncover the truth about these internment camps. Her research was a profound catalyst for the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which led the government to admit its mistreatment of Japanese Americans during WWII.

About the Author: Born and raised in Seattle, Wash. and a graduate of the University of Washington, Ken Mochizuki is the author of the award-winning and best-selling picture books Baseball Saved Us, Heroes, and Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story. He also wrote the young adult novel Beacon Hill Boys, the graphic novel Those Who Helped Us, and the nonfiction biography for young readers, Michi Challenges History—From Farm Girl to Costume Designer to Relentless Seeker of the Truth: The Life of Michi Nishiura Weglyn.  Previously as a journalist, he had extensively covered the Japanese American World War II experience and Asian Pacific American history.

This event is part of the 2024 Arizona Author Series. This program is supported by the Arizona State Library, Archives & Public Records, a division of the Secretary of State, with federal funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Arizona Center for the Book, a Library of Congress Center for the Book Affiliate.

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