Frank Abe

In conversation at the Brooklyn Public Library on the links between resistance to Japanese American wartime incarceration and immigration detention and deportation today, a panel called "We Refuse," part of the UPRISING/DOWNFALL teach-in.

resisters.com50th anniversary of “Honey Bucket” and the Asian American Theater Workshop | RESISTERS.COM: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration

BLOG POST: Fifty years ago today we premiered HONEY BUCKET by Mel Escueta, the 1st play to reveal the contradictions felt by Asian Americans in the American war in Vietnam. It was also the 1st professional production of Frank Chin's Asian American Theater Workshop. resisters.com/2026/10/08/5...

Join @konraderer.bsky.social and me at the Brooklyn Public Library on Sat, Oct. 10, for "UPRISING/DOWNFALL," a cross-cultural array of talks, performances, and readings about ordinary people "who stood up for democracy and human rights while state activity repressed them."

Our panel from 9:00-9:45 pm is titled, "WE REFUSE: Immigrant Detention and Deportation Today, and the Legacy of the No-No Boys (1942-1946)." And here is the full evening's program. Free RSVP at: bklynlibrary.org/uprising-downfall

And here are the historic links that connect our panel to the evening teach-in:

resisters.comThirty years of collaboration with Densho | RESISTERS.COM: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration

BLOG POST: Congratulations to Densho on thirty years of service to preserve and share the history of the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans. It’s been a remarkable journey for them and one I’ve been pleased and proud to support. resisters.com/2026/09/24/t...

bklynlibrary.orgUPRISING/DOWNFALL: Repression and Resistance in the Making of Democracy | Brooklyn Public LibraryIn observance of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, UPRISING/DOWNFALL is a public examination of historic milestones of democracy in 20th-century America, with a focus on social...

14 Sept

Join me at the Brooklyn Public Library on Sat, October 10, for UPRISING/DOWNFALL, a teach-in on Constitutional freedoms and state activity that repressed them." Mike Ishii and I will speak on camp resistance & immigrant detention and deportation today. Register: www.bklynlibrary.org/calendar/upr...

14 Sept

I will be staying in Manhattan from October 8 to 20 so anyone who wants to grab coffee, please be in touch.

youtu.beArthur A. Hansen Series on the Japanese American Experience_VerticalYouTube video by Nichi Bei

13 Sept

It's an honor to help the Nichi Bei Foundation launch "The Arthur A. Hansen Series on the Japanese American Experience" by writing the introduction to Art's "Return to the Wars: The Redress Diary of James Omura." Learn more and donate here: app.dvforms.net/api/dv/7p0j0d youtu.be/SfB7_Xkkmg8?...

japaneseamerica.buzzsprout.comS3E8: Unwanted Truth – John Okada and the Book That Wouldn't Stay Silent - Japanese AmericaWhen John Okada published No-No Boy in 1957, it was met by the Japanese American community with silence, discomfort, and outright rejection. Okada passed away in 1971 believing his novel was a failure...

11 Sept

NEW PODCAST: A fun conversation about novelist John Okada and NO-NO BOY in this @jamuseum.bsky.social podcast with Koji Steven Sakai and Michelle Malazaki on my life-spanning involvement with the book and current work to adapt it for the stage. japaneseamerica.buzzsprout.com/2314222/epis...

seattletimes.comBellevue's retail core is for sale after 80 years of family ownershipA whopper is hitting the real estate market: The Bellevue Collection, a 5.5 million-square-foot mixed-use complex in downtown Bellevue.

7 Sept

Thanks to the NY Public Library @nypl.bsky.social for adding our @penguinclassicsusa.bsky.social anthology of "The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration" to its list of 250 books for America's 250th. And in such world-class company too. The full list: www.nypl.org/books-more/r...

Frank Abe reposted

Goldy

@goldy.horsesass.org

31 Aug

The article mentions the area was once home to dozens of strawberry farms owned by Japanese immigrant families who were dispossessed of their land during their WWII internment. It fails to mention that Freeman's grandfather founded the Anti-Japanese League that advocated for internment. Weird.

nwasianweekly.comFrank Abe presides over remembering the Day of RemembranceWhen Frank Abe stepped to the podium last Sunday, Aug. 16, at the International District/Chinatown library, a tall black-and-white poster on a stand stood to his left.

19 Aug

Some good photos in this Northwest Asian Weekly coverage of our @denshoproject.bsky.social program at the Seattle Public Library centering the poster for the first Day of Remembrance in Seattle. nwasianweekly.com/2026/08/fran...

youtu.be"Activism and the camp epic, through We HerebyYouTube video by Université Bordeaux Montaigne

12 Aug

For an online conference in November with Université Bordeaux Montaigne in France, I pulled together all my work into one narrative throughline on camp resistance and postwar activism. They titled it, "Activism and the Camp Epic," and have now shared it online here: youtu.be/Lc7CgTFuqM4?...

10 Aug

Thanks to Scott Hoshida for this sidebar in the Nichi Bei News on our workshop on the Lim Report at the recent Tule Lake Pilgrimage. It was great to talk with him there, after meeting through his service on the board of the Mesa Refuge writers residence.

22 July

50 years ago I picked up bits of broken china at the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay, back in the day when it was unmanaged. I’ve had these pieces in a box ever sice. Today I was glad to return them to the state park system, with the help of our tour leader, Grant Din.

28 July

Hey, I found the photo from 1976 with Christopher Chow showing us around Angel Island. Minutes later I would pick up the broken bits of china that I just returned to the National Park Service 50 years later.

17 July

BLOG POST: Why the Japanese American Citizens League @jacl-national.bsky.social must reconcile itself with its own wartime history of government collaboration and suppression of resistance, before it can be free to reconcile with anyone else. #tulelakepilgrimage2026 resisters.com/2026/07/17/r...

Three years in the making, I finally corrected the transcript and Densho @denshoproject.bsky.social has published their oral history interview with me. A lot to cover, as I say in the HIstory Keepers email that just went out, so it took nine hours over three sessions. ddr.densho.org/narrators/10...

View full thread

"My interview took nine hours over three days, but Nina and Dana kept asking such great questions and I couldn’t stop! With the passage of fifty years it’s unavoidable that it is up to us Sansei to be the keepers of the flame and shape the legacy of our community."

densho.orgHistory Keepers Society - Densho: Japanese American Incarceration and Japanese Internment

If this content seems important to you, please support Densho @denshoproject.bsky.social and the History Keepers program here: densho.org/historykeepe...

ddr.densho.org ddr-densho-1000-530-11 — Frank Abe Interview II Segment 11 | Densho Digital Repository

"Inventing that first Day of Remembrance changed the course of my life. It showed me we could reframe the narrative in this nation around wartime incarceration and set me on the path that I’m still on today." [Video clip on inventing the first Day of Remembrance]: ddr.densho.org/interviews/d... )

resisters.comA brief history of “The Lim Report” and how it came to be | RESISTERS.COM: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration

26 June

BLOG POST: After 36-years, it’s time to unpack the 1990 Research Report into the wartime activities of the Japanese American Citizens League. Here’s the inside story of the origins of “The Lim Report," in advance of our workshop at the Tule Lake Pilgrimage. resisters.com/2026/06/26/a...

thehandbasket.coICE is offloading seven concentration camp warehouses. What does it really mean?A Q+A with Michael Wriston of Project Salt Box

26 June

Details of the July 5 workshop at the Tule Lake Pilgrimage: www.facebook.com/events/98577...

facebook.comfacebook.com

Frank Abe reposted

Marisa Kabas

@marisakabas.bsky.social

18 June

NEW — I wanted to know if ICE’s newly uncovered plan to offload seven of the 11 concentration camp warehouses was actually a big deal, so I went straight to the expert: Michael Wriston of @projectsaltbox.com, which has been tracking these warehouses every step of the way. Our full convo here:

nytimes.comICE Spent $700 Million on 7 Warehouses. Now It Wants to Get Rid of Them.

20 June

Thanks to @andreapitzer.bsky.social for calling out this win by local communities, whose resistance has stopped ICE from siting 21st century American concentration camps in seven warehouses in Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Utah, and New Jersey. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/u...

Frank Abe reposted

americanstudier.podbean.comPostgame Press Conference | Diamond in the RoughOne of my favorite parts of The Celestials’ Last Game, Season One of this podcast, was the post-game press conference episode, where I got to address some listener questions and responses, continue de...

3 June

Replying to @americanstudier.bsky.social

Featuring further reading recommendations for & tributes to books from @tracyslater.bsky.social, @tamikonimura.bsky.social, @frankabe.bsky.social, & more! americanstudier.podbean.com/e/postgame-p...

20 May

It's an honor to serve as one of the faces of the Mesa Refuge spring fundraising campaign. For fifty years I’ve worked with John Okada’s foundational novel, NO-NO BOY, and wrestled with it for the past five to adapt it for the theater. With two weeks inside this wildlife refuge 1/2

secure.givelively.orgsecure.givelively.org

20 May

I was able to sit with these characters and hear them speak and finally cracked the tone and voice needed for this play. By the second week the scenes were pouring out on the page. If you can, please help others to have the same opportunity by giving here: secure.givelively.org/donate/mesa-... 2/2

soundcloud.comApril 29, 2026 Frank Abe, Claire Evans, Saiba Varma on KWMR/Mesa Refuge InterviewsThe Mesa Refuge a writing refuge in Point Reyes Station, founded in 1997. Our residents are mostly focused on “ideas at the edge” of nature, human economy, and social equity. Here writers and other cr

19 May

PODCAST: In conversation with fellow writers Saiba Varma and Claire L. Evans and host Lyons Filmer on "Mesa Refuge Interviews" on community radio KWMR @kwmrradio.bsky.social in Point Reyes Station, just a short walk down the hill from Mesa Refuge. Listen here: soundcloud.com/user-6932549...

15 May

Scott Kurashige pulls no punches in turning the fear of the yellow peril on its head with his "American Peril: The Violent History of Anti-Asian Racism." He documents countless examples of vigilante violence and state violence in the face of the current regime's effort to whitewash history.

15 May

"American Peril" is an essential new work, one that will help frame the resistance to invented anti-immigrant hysteria. From @ucpress.bsky.social. @scottkurashige.bsky.social sky.social. @jessicapellien.bsky.social.

Frank Abe reposted

americanstudier.podbean.comThe Eighth Inning: Literary Voices, Baseball as Metaphor, & the Story of America | Diamond in the RoughWe’ve almost arrived at the conclusion of our game. But before we do, let’s take a literary excursion into talented authors and compelling works that remind us of the presence and power of stories and...

13 May

If you haven’t yet read the great Toshio Mori, the two stories I highlight in this week’s episode are a great intro to one of our most groundbreaking & important writers—& a moving chronicler of Japanese American incarceration & baseball. 🗃️ @frankabe.bsky.social @palumboliu.bsky.social

Ben Railton@americanstudier.bsky.social

Short stories that depict the power of Japanese American baseball for a pre-war community & an incarcerated young man. A poem about baseball legends in the camps from a young boy’s perspective. & literary voices challenging the worst of our own moment’s prejudices. Welcome to the Eighth Inning! 🗃️

13 May

Join us in Portland this Saturday 5/16 for "Lines of Resistance" as Kelly Goto and I join with Lori Matsukawa to "explore how graphic storytelling gives voice to the lived experiences of Japanese Americans incarcerated at Minidoka in WWII. Book signing to follow. Free RSVP: jamo.org/lines-of-res...

13 May

Set against JAMO’s 'Minidoka on Our Minds' exhibit, this conversation considers how drawn lines—ink on paper—become acts of remembrance and conscience. How does art help us see Minidoka not only as history, but as lived experience? What lessons about civil liberties and belonging resonate today?

Frank Abe reposted

americanstudier.podbean.comDiamond in the Rough | Ben RailtonBaseball, Bigotry, and the Battle for America, Season Two </p>

11 May

Replying to @frankabe.bsky.social

Thanks so much, & I'm so glad to hear it! If you have a chance to check it out, I think you'd enjoy this season of my podcast, focused on baseball at Manzanar & the incarceration camps overall: americanstudier.podbean.com

blackwhiteandread.comMay 11, 2026: Sabbatical Reads: The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration – Black and White and Read All Over[While I did teach a couple online courses during my Spring semester sabbatical, I didn’t have my usual slate of classes by any means. So in lieu of my usual Semester Reflections series, this week I’l...

11 May

Thanks Ben Railton @americanstudier.bsky.social for such a close read of our anthology, You’ve nailed our thinking behind it. Glad you found it if use.

Ben Railton@americanstudier.bsky.social

So for the first post in my Sabbatical Reads blog series, three of my many takeaways from @frankabe.bsky.social & Floyd Cheung’s groundbreaking, vital anthology The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration (2024)! blackwhiteandread.com/may-11-2026-...

Frank Abe reposted

11 May

Replying to @americanstudier.bsky.social

nytimes.comShe Began with Japanese American History. Then She Made Things Up.

9 May

Congratulations again to Karen Tei Yamashita on her epic new novel, and thanks to Robert Ito for calling me up to chat about it for the NY Times. Haven't heard from Robert since he reviewed "Conscience and the Constitution" 26 years ago for a film magazine. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/08/b...

9 May

"In the end, 'Questions 27 & 28' will likely stand as a companion piece to 'No-No Boy,' the book that inspired Yamashita as a young writer, said Frank Abe, an Okada expert and co-editor of 'The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration.' 2/3

gtfoice.orgGTFO ICE — Get The Facilities OutICE is rapidly expanding its network of detention centers. We have a playbook to fight back. Sign up to get alerts if a facility is planned near you.

9 May

"'Both have that reach, that drive, that desire to take everything in and spit it all back out in a coherent way that captures the arc of the experience, from immigration to incarceration to resettlement,' he said." 3/3

Frank Abe reposted

Rachel Maddow

@maddow.bsky.social

24 Apr

"We've built a rapid response network to stop ICE detention centers before they start. Receive immediate alerts if a facility is planned for your community and help lead the local fight to stop it..." gtfoice.org

22 Apr

More thoughts by George Toshio Johnston in the Pacific Citizen on the effectiveness of the "edutainment" model in podcasts to "tell an important, ever-timely story in an engaging, compelling and, yes, entertaining manner." www.pacificcitizen.org/podcasts-rec...

19 Apr

Join us in Portland on May 16 for "Lines of Resistance." Kelly Goto, Lori Matsukawa and I will explore how graphic storytelling — drawn lines of ink on paper — gives voice to the lived experiences of Japanese Americans incarcerated in WWII. Book signing to follow. RSVP: jamo.org/event/lines-...

13 Apr

BLOG POST: Highlights of the grim outlook I recently presented at @denshoproject.bsky.social, the AAASAssociation for Asian American Studies - AAAS, and the Seattle Public Library on the use of industrial warehouses for 21st century American concentration camps. resisters.com/2026/04/13/m...

8 Apr

Back from AAAS to find this Sunday print version of the Seattle Times preview for tonight's program at the Seattle Public Library, where we'll show how a reading of "The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration" prepares us to see what injustices the government is repeating today. 1/2