FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas Press has published The Red Kimono ($29.95 cloth), a novel by Jan Morrill.

The book is set during World War II when President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the creation of internment camps and the forced relocation of 120,000 people of Japanese descent, most of them U.S. citizens. Two of those camps were located in Arkansas.  

In the novel, siblings Sachiko Kimura and her brother Nobu are sent to a fictionalized version of one of those camps.

The story begins in 1941, as racial tensions are rising in the California community where 9-year-old Sachiko and 17-year-old Nobu live with their family. When Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, anger erupts, and one afternoon Sachiko and Nobu witness three teenage boys taunting and beating their father in the park. The lives of Sachiko, Nobu, and one of the boys become dramatically intertwined as they each go through dramatic changes. The boy is imprisoned for his crime, and Sachiko and Nobu are sent to an internment camp in Arkansas.

New York Times best-selling author Jodi Thomas called The Red Kimono “A slice of American history beautifully told by three young Americans coming of age in a turbulent time.”

Jan Morrill is originally from California and now lives in Arkansas. Her mother, a Japanese American, was an internee during World War II. Morrill is currently working on the sequel to The Red Kimono.

Morrill will be reading from, discussing, and signing her book at several locations:

• 7 p.m. Saturday, April 6, at Nightbird Books in Fayetteville
• 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, at the Elkins Public Library
• 1 p.m. Saturday, April 27, at Steve’s Sundries in Tulsa
• 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 7, at the Fayetteville Public Library
• 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 22, at Kimberly Area Library in Kimberling City, Mo.

Each of these events is free and open to the public. Full details can be found at www.uapress.com.

The University of Arkansas Press is the book-publishing division of the University of Arkansas and publishes approximately 20 titles per year.