Two Nails, One Love Virtual Reading & Discussion
Join us for this virtual gathering as Alden M. Hayashi reads from Two Nails, One Love, his debut novel which humanizes the experiences thousands of ethnic Japanese from Hawaii faced during World War II and the way this trauma impacts future generations.
Alden will be joined by Miko Lee, lead producer of KPFA’s APEX Express, to discuss the novel’s themes of immigration, institutionalized racism, family secrets, and coming out.
co-presented by Kearny Street Workshop, the National Japanese American Historical Society, and Tsuru for Solidarity
Participating Artists
Alden M. Hayashi
has been an editor and writer at Scientific American, the Harvard Business Review, and the MIT Sloan Management Review. After more than thirty years covering science, technology, and business, he has recently delved into writing fiction as a way to honor the memories of his grandparents’ immigration to Hawaii, as well as to preserve the stories of the lives of their many descendants. "Two Nails, One Love" is his first novel.
Miko Lee
is a storyteller and teaching artist. She believes in the power of story to amplify voices. Miko's has an extensive background in theatre includes work at ACT, Berkeley Rep, & the Public Theatre. She is currently Executive Director of Teaching Artist Guild, and Lead Producer of APEX Express on KPFA Radio.
About the book
(text) Two Nails, One Love opens in New York City with the narrator-Ethan Taniguchi, a Japanese-American gay man in his early forties-awaiting the arrival of his mother from Hawaii. The two have been estranged for more than a decade, and the reunion is fraught with past grievances bubbling to the surface. After a fateful ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty, Ethan's mother reluctantly reveals details of her shattered childhood-her family's imprisonment in a concentration camp in Arkansas in World War II, followed by a deportation to Japan, where she witnesses the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Ethan's past is also revealed-painful memories of a forsaken career in music and a delayed coming out at the height of the AIDS epidemic. Eventually, both mother and son come to understand the complex and subtle ways that their lives are intertwined, with the past reverberating powerfully through the present.
Reader feedback about Two Nails, One Love
“This is such a beautiful and engrossing story, tackling family relationships that many can relate to alongside a historical background many will know very little about.”
“I really enjoyed Two Nails, One Love. As a gay man who is part Asian, I feel that our story is not told often enough- both our history and the family dynamics some gay men and women can go through in families with traditional values.”
“I live in Hawai’i so it speaks very much to life here but is universal in its tenderness regarding the misunderstandings and secrets between generations. It made me laugh, cry and ultimately helped with my own forgiveness issues.”
“While mainly a story of love between a mother and her grown son, the history of the times is brought into sharp focus. One does not have to be Japanese or struggling with one's sexuality to feel a part of the story … The family relationship is something that many can connect with and understand. “
Mess line at noon Manzanar Relocation Center. Photo by Ansel Adams
A view of the Honouluili Incarceration Camp in Hawaii
Over 2,000 people of Japanese ancestry living in Hawaii were incarcerated and approximately 750 people were sent to detention centers on the U.S. continent