Graphic novel that sold out its first print run? Check.
Japanese-American history and dissent you never learned about in school? Check.
A conversation with two creators facilitated by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Kara Ueda? Check.

You are invited to Authors Uncovered: We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration, August 25, 5pm. Register here

While Japanese-Americans complied when evicted from their homes in 1942, many refused to submit to imprisonment in American concentration camps without a fight. Based upon painstaking research, We Hereby Refuse presents an original vision of America’s past with disturbing links to the American present. This graphic novel shines a light on the devastating impacts of mass incarceration based solely on race, reveals the depth and breadth of the long-suppressed story of camp resistance, and locates the government’s wartime actions in the continuum of systemic exclusion of Asian Americans.

This Sacramento book launch will feature the local stories of young Mitsuye Endo and Hiroshi Kashiwagi, with a special focus on Ross Ishikawa's artwork and the craft of visual storytelling and graphic novel production. Program moderated by Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Kara Ueda.

Frank Abe wrote and directed the PBS film on the largest organized resistance to incarceration, Conscience and the Constitution. In addition, he won an American Book Award for John Okada: The Life & Rediscovered Work of the Author of No-No Boy and is co-editing a new anthology of incarceration literature for Penguin Classics. He blogs at Resisters.com.

Ross Ishikawa is a cartoonist and animator living in Seattle. He is working on a graphic novel about his parents and their coming of age during World War II. His work is online at rossishikawa.com.