La Mesa Library to Host Visit With Local Internment Camp Survivors

The City of San Diego recently made the following announcement:

This November, the La Mesa Library, will be hosting Memories of Japanese Internment with Yukio and Mitsuko Kawamoto, internment camp survivors and San Diego natives. This program is being held through a California Reads grant, which encourages programming related to the classic memoir Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, the story of a young girl in a Japanese internment camp in California during WWII.

Library users will be able to check out copies of the book and hear the Kawamotos discuss their experiences living at Arizona's Poston Internment Camp during World War II. The free event will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 14 at 11:30 a.m., and will include refreshments.

San Diego County Library received a $15,000 grant from Cal Humanities (formerly the California Council for the Humanities) to host a reading and discussion series based upon the books Farewell to Manzanar, Lost City Radio, and the Penguin Guide to the Constitution. The library received the grant as part of Cal Humanities' Searching for Democracy initiative, designed to animate public conversation on the nature and needs of democracy.

Through a wide range of public programs leading into the 2012 elections and beyond, students, families and people from all walks of life will explore - online and off - what discoveries and lessons about democracy lie in works of fiction and nonfiction, provocative cultural exhibits and public conversations.

"Public libraries are essential and serve as sanctuaries for democracy," said Library Director José Aponte. "Our doors are open to everyone, and we encourage civic engagement and candid dialogue among all ages."

Branches across the county will be participating in California Reads, with various book discussions, guest speakers, related movie screenings, craft programs, and other programs being offered now through November. Visit www.sdcl.org or contact your local library for program information.