Albany Reads 2026 — The Poet and the Silk Girl, by Satsuki Ina
From Albany author, psychotherapist, and activist Satsuki Ina, The Poet and the Silk Girl is a powerful and intimate love story set against one of the gravest violations of civil liberties in American history. Newlyweds Itaru and Shizuko Ina were beginning their life together when the U.S. government forcibly removed them from their home and incarcerated them in wartime concentration camps solely because of their Japanese ancestry. Under pressure, they renounced their citizenship and were labeled enemy aliens, their family scattered across the country.
Born during their imprisonment, Ina reconstructs her parents’ story through diaries, photographs, clandestine letters, and haiku, revealing how they managed love, loss, separation, and loyalty tests amid wartime hysteria. Through one family’s experience, the book illuminates the broader struggle of Japanese Americans who resisted injustice, fought to reclaim their rights, and held fast to their humanity amid fear and prejudice.
Both lyrical and unflinching, this memoir traces the lasting effects of trauma across generations while drawing connections to contemporary debates about immigration, detention, and civil liberties. At once a story of devotion, resilience, and protest, it urges readers to remember the past and to help ensure that the same injustices are never repeated.
One Community, One Shared Book
This year’s program examines the history and legacy of the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, considering it as a historical event and an ongoing narrative of resilience, civil liberties, and community strength.
Please visit the Albany Library during open hours between March 1 and May 31 to pick up a complimentary copy of the book.
We invite you to participate!
Albany Reads Kickoff Event with Satsuki Ina
March 1, 2024 2-4pm
Join us as Albany launches a three-month, community-wide reading experience inspired by The Poet and the Silk Girl: A Memoir of Love, Imprisonment, and Protest by Albany author Satsuki Ina. Hear directly from the author, experience a powerful documentary presentation, and take part in folding thousands of origami cranes as a shared symbol of remembrance and hope.
Come begin this extraordinary season of learning and connection with your neighbors, because when a community reads together, it can also grow, heal, and imagine together. Following the conversation, there will be time for audience questions. We hope you will join us.
Discussion groups build connections and provide space for open conversation. Join a discussion group organized by library staff or create your own in your community.
Complimentary copies of The Poet and the Silk Girl: A Memoir of Love, Imprisonment, and Protest are available at Albany Library while supplies last.
