Moving through a bit of backlog, I’m excited to share this announcement from earlier this year: my client, Tamiko Nimura’s experimental memoir, A Place for What We Lose has been acquired by the University of Washington Press for publication in 2026. She is co-agented between myself and Transatlantic Literary Agency colleague, Amanda Orozco.
Tamiko Nimura’s A PLACE FOR WHAT WE LOSE: A Daughter’s Return to Tule Lake, an experimental memoir from a trifecta of perspectives: daughter, descendant, and writer, which the author weaves through familial and national history into the stories of countless Japanese American descendants reckoning with the violent removal and incarceration of their ancestors in concentration camps—and how such traumas echo and reveal themselves in their lives today, to Mike Baccam (University of Washington Press), by Amanda Orozco and Noelle Falcis Math at Transatlantic Literary Agency (North American Rights).
Tamiko Nimura, PhD, is an award-winning Asian American (Sansei/Pinay) creative nonfiction writer, community journalist, and public historian. She writes from an interdisciplinary, generative space based at the intersection of her love of literature, grounding in American ethnic studies, inherited pedagogy from teachers and community activists, and storytelling through history.
Tamiko’s words and work have appeared in a variety of outlets, including San Francisco Chronicle, Zócalo Public Square, Discover Nikkei, Nichibei, Narratively, The Rumpus, and Seattle’s International Examiner. Her co-authored graphic novel, We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration (Chin Music Press/Wing Luke Museum, 2021), has won several awards including its selection to represent Washington State at the National Book Festival in 2023. Her commissioned work includes a 10-year series of essays for the Japanese American National Museum as well as exhibit text for the Wing Luke Museum (Seattle) and the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system.
Tamiko is the direct descendant of Japanese American World War II incarcerees, and has worked to keep this history alive through her writing and public speaking. She is a member of the Tule Lake Committee, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public and preserving the history o f Japanese American incarceration at Tule Lake. A native Californian, Tamiko now lives with her family in Tacoma, Washington.
