EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/kai-naima-williams
January 9th, 9pm-10:30pm EST, Virtual, Free
City Lights celebrates the publication of
The Bridges Yuri Built: How Yuri Kochiyama Marched Across Movements
By Kai Naima Williams
Illustrated by Anastasia Magloire Williams
Published by Kaepernick Press
THE BRIDGES YURI BUILT: HOW YURI KOCHIYAMA MARCHED ACROSS MOVEMENTS introduces one of the 20th-century’s most notable freedom fighters, Yuri Kochiyama (1921 – 2014) to the next generation of young readers.
Debut children's picture book author Kai Naima Williams – great-granddaughter of Yuri Kochiyama – intimately chronicles the experiences and lessons, hardships and victories, and people and places that shaped Yuri’s life and influenced her activism. From Yuri’s incarceration in a Japanese-American concentration camp during World War II to her participation in movements organizing for better schools in Harlem to her close friendship with Malcolm X, Yuri never wavered in her belief in the power of people – especially young people – to bring about social change. Through imaginative writing and vibrant illustrations (Anastasia Magloire Williams), THE BRIDGES YURI BUILT is sure to inspire young readers to embrace Yuri’s unswerving belief that together we can build a bridge to a better world.
Kai Naima Williams is a multidisciplinary writer and performing artist based in Harlem, New York. She is the author of two poetry chapbooks He Tried To Drown The Ocean, I Waved (Hyacinth Girl Press, 2018) and Tomorrow Maps (The Hunger Press, 2023) and the children’s picture book The Bridges Yuri Built: How Yuri Kochiyama Marched Across Movements (Kaepernick Publishing, 2024). Her work has been featured in MASK Magazine, Louisiana Literature, Stirring Lit, Abolition Is, CRWN Magazine, Literary Manhattan and the upcoming anthology Black and Asian Feminist Solidarities (Haymarket Press, 2025) amongst other publications, and she has been honored by the Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival and The New York Times. She is also a co-founder of Eat At The Table Theatre Company.
Katie Yamasaki works primarily as a muralist and picture book creator. She has painted more than eighty murals around the world, and her most recent book is Place Hand Here. She has a forthcoming book coming out in April 2025 from W.W. Norton titled MURAL ISLAND. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.
Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation