It’s finally done! Windows of Light, an anthology of writing by Nikkei (which means of Japanese lineage not living in Japan) is now live on Amazon.com. The launch will be at the end of the month at the National JACL convention in Las Vegas, Nevada (not New Mexico, look it up.) If you are in Vegas from July 30 through August 1, you will find me at the exhibit hall at the Paris Hotel, sitting at a table of books, featuring Windows of Light.

Seven months ago I began the journey to publish the writings of Nikkei Write Now!, a group started during Covid. We began as an offshoot of a writing workshop that was offered by the organization, Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages. During Covid, the pilgrimages became virtual and were called Tadaima! translated as “I’m Home!”

Fourteen members of Nikkei Write Now! have put together fiction, memoir, and family histories, many of which document the time during the incarceration of Japanese during WW2. We have met consistently twice a month for five years–that’s approximately 120 meetings!! And all meetings have been via Zoom calls. We see each other in the small squares of an online call. None of us were professionals at Zoom calls–lighting was sometimes marginal, sound usually worked, we forgot to hit record. Callers used their cell phones or computers. Sometimes we called in from parking lots or on the road, at work or vacation.

Technology and dedication kept us together.

Windows of Light refers to the fourteen of us. Each is a pinpoint of brilliance, from across the US and Canada. Windows of Light is the compilation of stories by writers young and old (mostly old). Many survivors of the Japanese incarceration never spoke of their experiences, never faced the trauma of losing their life’s earnings from labor in America. And in most cases, they passed their trauma down to the children of the camps. Most of us are children or grandchildren of incarcerated Japanese. Our writing group was a step out of the darkness of repression and into the light of exposing how our history shapes us.

At the time we began meeting, I had started researching what would become my historical fiction, Between Two Freedoms, a story about love and the incarceration of Japanese in America during WW2. That book launched last year, in 2025. It took five years to put the story together. It is based on my parents’ lives. While promoting Between Two Freedoms, I wanted to help validate the work that Nikkei Write Now! has been doing. The members of Nikkei Write Now! are of Japanese descent, living primarily in the US. One member is Canadian, and one is non-Japanese who is instrumental in the development of the Eugene Oregon Japanese American memorial garden. Our bi-monthly meetings kept me encouraged and focused on completing Between Two Freedoms.

Visit my author page to view the books available, including Windows of Light.

To see Windows of Light on Amazon, click here.

To see all works available by Elaine click here.