Rob Taylor Read Local BC asked eight British Columbia poets to share with readers the writers they like to read. Lillian chose Joy Kogawa.
I have always admired Joy Kogawa’s work, especially her novel Obasan and her poetry. Obasan inspired me to write about my childhood: the little girl in Obasan is incarcerated in a camp for Japanese Canadians during WWII, and I was similarly interned in the Warsaw Ghetto in WWII. In both cases the world was silent as our people were treated unjustly.