AUTHOR OF 'HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET' TO SPEAK JAN. 29

Author Jamie Ford will discuss his first novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, which focuses on a young Chinese American boy losing his Japanese American friend to the unconstitutional mass incarceration by the U.S. government during World War II, in a special program set for Saturday, January 29, beginning at 2 p.m. at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo.

The novel revolves around Chinese American Henry Lee, who, in 1986, has become a widower living in the Seattle area. He hears a story about unclaimed belongings left by Japanese Americans during World War II when the government forced them to leave the West Coast. The items were discovered in the historic Panama Hotel. This reminds Henry that when he was 12, his best friend Keiko Okabe and her family had to leave suddenly. It also recalls Henry’s father’s insistence that their family wear buttons that read, "I Am Chinese" and how Henry hid his friendship with Keiko from his father.

Much of the novel jumps back and forth between the war and the 1980s. While Henry’s lost friendship with Keiko looms over the novel, the book also looks at Henry’s relationship with his own family, especially his father, and delves into other interesting aspects of Henry’s life, such as his fondness for jazz.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is a New York Times’ bestseller and has been chosen by numerous book clubs, including the American Bookseller Association, Barnes & Noble, Costco and Target, among others. The book has already been translated into 24 languages.

Ford, who is ethnically half Chinese, is the great grandson of an immigrant named Min Cheung, who changed his name in America to William Ford. An alumnus of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, Ford also attended Orson Scott Card’s Literary Bootcamp where he worked on developing his novel from a short story.

This program is free to National Museum members or with admission.