07 Jun “New edition of Japanese America novel ‘No-No Boy’ sparks backlash” via Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times’ Tracy Brown wrote a piece on the publication history of John Okada’s “No-No Boy,” and the backlash caused by Penguin Classics’ recent publication of the book.
Read an excerpt:
“ … Wong, Jeffery Paul Chan, Frank Chin and Lawson Fusao Inada tried to bring the book into the limelight. And when they could not find a publisher willing to reissue “No-No Boy” when it went out of print, they worked to publish it themselves under the Combined Asian-American Resources Project banner in 1976.
The publishing rights, Wong says, were transferred in 1979 to the University of Washington Press, which has sold 157,000 copies of the book over the last 40 years and has paid royalties to the Okada family. “No-No Boy” has not gone out of print since 1976.
“Penguin’s edition not only tramples on my copyright for the Okadas but also sidesteps paying royalties to the Okadas because they claim the book is in the public domain, which is so, so morally wrong,” said Wong. ”