Join us on Tuesday, January 24th at 5:30 pm in the Magazine Reading Room in the Longview Public Library for an evening with author Elaine Cockrell as she discusses her book, A Shrug of the Shoulders. In a rich novel spanning Portland's assembly center, farming communities in Eastern Oregon, and internment camps like Minidoka in Idaho, A Shrug of the Shoulders renders the Yanos’ and Mitas’ lives with care, hope, and historical fidelity. Through multiple points of view and dozens of vivid settings, author Elaine Cockrell creates a mosaic of Japanese-American perseverance: one tiled with humor, frustration, despair, anger, and love.
Cockrell will present the people and history that informed her novel and participate in a discussion with staff and guests.
In addition, Lower Columbia College will be presenting a workshop with Ms. Cockrell at 11:30 am, 148 Main.
About Elaine Cockrell:
Elaine grew up amid wheat and sugar beet fields on her family's farm near Adrian, Oregon. She lived in a multi-cultural world with Basque sheepherders, Mexican itinerant field hands, and Japanese-American families, most of whom settled there at the end of World War II. After graduating from Eastern Oregon University, Elaine taught literature and writing to middle and high school students for many years.
Northwest Voices is funded by the Longview Public Library and Lower Columbia College, Friends of the Longview Library, the Longview Library Foundation, and the LCC Foundation. All events are free and open to the public. For more information about this event and all the winter happenings at the Longview Public Library, please call 360.442.5300, go to longviewlibrary.org, like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/Longview PublicLibraryWA or follow us on Instagram at Instagram.com/longviewlibrarywa