Juliet S. Kono was born in 1943, and raised in Hilo, Hawaiʻi. Kono is also a survivor of the 1946 tsunami. She has written extensively about the Japanese American experience across the generations. Kono says, “Using narrative and poetic styles, I seek to give voice to those who would have otherwise faded into oblivion. I especially want to give voice to the women immigrants who came to Hawaiʻi as contract laborers.” She has written two books of poetry, Hilo Rains and Tsunami Years, a short story collection, Hoʻolulu Park and the Pepsodent Smile, and a novel called Anshu. She is presently working on another novel, Misao’s Body. Kono is the recipient of the Hawaiʻi Award for Literature, American Japanese National Literary Award, and the US/ Japan Friendship Commission Creative Artist Exchange Fellowship.