If you follow me, you know I have been writing a lot about ghosts, premonitions and episodes of déjà vu. It’s been fun, but I have a real life, too. Here’s a little about what’s been going on…

Book Placement!

I have finally gotten my books placed at Collected Works Bookstore, on the corner of Galisteo and Water Street, off the Plaza in Santa Fe. Dorothy Massey, the owner has taken in both LET ME IN and Between Two Freedoms. Get the books, grab lunch or coffee, and browse one of the more interesting bookstores in Santa Fe. Support your local bookstore!

Santa Fe Community College Continuing Education

I just finished teaching Making Memoirs and Fiction Memorable class. It was great fun, blending my interest in Kurt Vonnegut’s graduate thesis on the shape of stories, personality types and archetypes, and tension creating tools. I plan on teaching this class again in the fall.

In the meantime, you will find me on June 15 at the Four Seasons Resort north of Santa Fe facilitating a one day class, The Writer’s Life. It will be a day exploring what it means to be a writer, making time to write, and meeting new writing cohorts.

Later in the summer I will be trying to recreate the Minnesota lake life writer’s retreat hosting a Santa Fe Magic Writer’s Retreat; three days of writing, exploring and expounding on the fickleness of writing.

You can find more information on the plethora of classes offered by the Santa Fe Community College, one of our local gems. Visit www.sfcc.edu/ce for more information.

Nikkei Write Now! Anthology

Kubo Press Works, the label that publishes my books, will publish our anthology of fiction, memoir, essay and poetry, all written by current or past members of our writing group, Nikkei Write Now! Major topics include Being Japanese, Wartime, Writing Prompts and Other. The book, Windows of Light, is due out July 4, 2026! Email me at elaine@elainekoyama.com to place your name on a pre-order list!

It all started back about a million years ago, when Covid kept us all sheltering at home, I joined a writing class offered by Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages via Zoom. I attended multiple sessions hosted by Alden Hayashi, author of Two Nails, One Love. From that class, we started a writing group of about ten Nikkei–those of Japanese descent in a foreign country. We have been meeting twice a month for over five years and have evolved and devolved, about a handful and a half make up the original core group!

October in France, 2027

My next book will be a fictional account of my Uncle Ben Kubo, a giant of a Japanese American standing over 5’10” tall. He had joined the US Army in October 1941, two months before Pearl Harbor. He fought in Italy and France, part of the renown 442nd Combat Infantry Team.

My plan was to join a tour group, Nisei Legacy Tours this fall to walk the fields and towns in France where the battles were fought, reconstructing what Ben might have gone through when his team was sent to rescue the Lost Texas Battalion caught behind enemy lines. My downpayment was sent, but a wedding and unrest in the world are making me regroup, and the plan is to go next year. I will be working on the book “blind” since many of the military records were lost in a fire, and I won’t have the hands-on experience of walking on the cobblestone streets of Bruyere, France.

Thanks for reading!