Book soirée featuring former Wall Street Journal Tokyo Correspondent, Kathryn Graven

The Japan Society of Canada and Ben McNally Books are excited that author and former Wall Street Journal Tokyo Correspondent, Kathryn Graven, will discuss her new book, Memoirs of a Mask Maker at Ben McNally Books, on Thursday September 28, 2023 from 6:00 pm. Her talk will focus on the important gifts that Japan gave her - masks, umeboshi and more - and how they have shaped her life.  

Memoirs of a Mask Maker is the moving story of how a 5-year-old girl navigates deep loss after a tragic car accident leaves her motherless. Charting a life of tending grief and reclaiming joy, Memoirs of a Mask Maker honors the women who helped the girl stitch together a beautiful life - a grandmother, a neighbor and a pharmacist in Japan. Years later, when the global pandemic raged, Kathryn Graven responded by sewing hundreds of colorful masks. Making masks tapped all she had learned about filling a void and building resilience. 

Kathryn Graven is a Boston-based writer, mixed-media artist, musician and lifelong sewer. Fluent in Japanese, she began her journalism career in Tokyo at the ABC News Bureau, and then became a Tokyo correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.  In the U.S., she reported for the WSJ from New York and Boston, before pivoting to a new career in mixed-media painting.

Books will be available for purchase and signing.

Date and Time: 6:00-7:30 pm, Thursday, September 28, 2023 (Registration opens at 5:30 pm)
Venue: Ben McNally Books (108 Queen Street East Toronto, ON.  M5C 1S6)
Tel. 416 361-0032 Web. https://benmcnallybooks.com/
RSVP: Not required
Free of charge
Casual attire
English program

About Kathryn Graven

About Ben McNally Books