Once, a Lotus Garden: And Other Stories

by Jessica Saiki

Twenty stories depict life in Hawaii before and during World War II, and show how the bombing of Pearl Harbor affected the traditional Hawaiian-Japanese way of life

130 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1987

About the author

Jessica was born Keiko Kawasuna in Hilo, Hawaii on August 29, 1928 to a fisherman father, Takichi Kawasuna and a picture bride mother from Japan, Karu Hara. She was given the American name “Jessie” by one of her teachers when she reached school age but preferred “Jessica” and wrote several published books as “Jessica Kawasuna Saiki”.

Jessica is a Nisei, second generation Japanese-American who grew up in the 1930s and 1940s in Hawaii. She moved from Hilo to Honolulu on the island of Oahu, Hawaii and at the age of 13 years old, was accepted at Mid Pacific Institute where she graduated in June 1945. She also studied art at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, and later attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa. After World War II, she left Hawaii to continue her education in Chicago, Illinois where she earned her BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago and a Masters in English Literature from Roosevelt University.

(from http://www.forevermissed.com/jessica-...)