Latest Reading - May 9, 2026
I will be giving an Author's Talk about Mizuko: True Spirit at the Julian Dixon Los Angeles County Library in Culver City at 4 pm on May, 9, 2026. This is a revised reprise of a reading done in 2023 at the same location. Since then, Art has presented at other venues, including the Mar Vista Branch of the Los Angeles City Library, Loyola Marymount University, the J-Sei Community Center in Emeryville, CA, the Asian Pacific American Heritage Library in Rosemead, CA (online), and the Village Well bookstore in Culver City.
Below is a summary of his talk and a brief bio:
Art Nomura was born in Manzanar Concentration Camp, raised in South LA, East LA, and OC. He currently resides in Culver City. His latest book, Mizuko: True Spirit, is an epic American-immigrant tale of hardship, assimilation, and triumph.
Join him in the meeting room at Dixon Library for a discussion of his book.
When the Takahashi family, one of the wealthiest in western Japan, loses their great fortune in 1900, five-year old Mizuko Takahashi (Art's paternal grandmother) goes from riches to rags. Mizuko’s lifetime in Japan and America offers the reader an intimate look into the world of an immigrant. It is the story of one woman’s efforts to surmount racism, sexism, and poverty in the 20th century.
Brief Bio
Art Nomura has worked as a painter, sculptor, potter, filmmaker, writer, and New Media artist since 1968. Several of his works have themes directly connected to the Asian American experience. His work has screened on PBS and cable, and at festivals, galleries, museums, and universities worldwide. Nomura has taught media production and writing since 1981.
He is Professor Emeritus in Film/TV Production at the School of Film and Television, Loyola Marymount University, and continues advise on courses at LMU between writing, gardening, traveling, bicycling, xi gong, Pilates, social activism, design/construction, and art-making activities.
He is a graduate of Garfield High School, Los Angeles; California State University, Los Angeles (B.A. Representational Art); and UCLA (MFA, Theater Arts).
He has recently shot, edited, and produced Active Transportation and Public Transportation-based documentaries, as well as short-form stories about being carfree and carfree-lite. The latest, entitled Carfree Epiphany, can be seen at www.bikeculvercity.org/carfree-epiphany, www.instagram.com/carfreeepiphany/, and www.youtube.com/@CarfreeEpiphany. This project encourages public participation. Notify Art of your interest in participating by contacting him at carfreeepiphany@gmail.com.
He is a Vietnam-era veteran, husband to multi-talented Mary Daval, father of three, grandfather to three, brother to three, and first cousin to twenty-eight.
