Sept. 14, 2020

Contact Rick Kyte at 608-796-3704 or rlkyte@viterbo.edu or Jill Miller at 608-796-3615 or jmmiller@viterbo.edu

VITERBO D.B. REINHART INSTITUTE FOR ETHICS IN LEADERSHIP VIRTUAL FALL LECTURE SERIES TO CONTINUE WITH WHEN THE EMPEROR WAS DIVINE AUTHOR JULIE OTSUKA SEPT. 22

LA CROSSE, Wis. – Author of the award-wining book When the Emperor was Divine Julie Otsuka will speak as part of the Viterbo University D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership virtual Fall Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22 on Facebook Live.

Based on Otsuka’s own family history, When the Emperor Was Divine is the story of the incarceration of a Japanese-American family during World War II. Otsuka’s grandfather was arrested by the FBI as a suspected spy for Japan the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, and her mother, uncle, and grandmother spent three years in a prison camp in Topaz, Utah. 

When the Emperor Was Divine has been translated into 11 languages and was a New York Times Notable Book, a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers finalist, and was recently added to the National Endowment for the Arts’ The Big Read Library. A New York Times reviewer called it “a resonant and beautifully nuanced achievement” and a USA Today reviewer described it as “a gem of a book and one of the most vivid history lessons you’ll ever learn.”

A California native, Julie Otsuka studied art as an undergraduate at Yale University and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University. She is also the author of the acclaimed book The Buddha in the Attic.

Go to the Viterbo Ethics Facebook page to view the presentation. A Facebook account is not required. For a full schedule of D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership events, visit www.viterbo.edu/ethics.

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