Shimoda, Brandon: - Brandon Shimoda is the author of several books of poetry and prose, including two memoirs of Japanese America, THE GRAVE ON THE WALL and THE AFTERLIFE IS LETTING GO (both from City Lights, 2019/2024), and HYDRA MEDUSA (Nightboat Books, 2023). He's the co-editor, with Brynn Saito, of THE GATE OF MEMORY, an anthology of poetry on Nikkei wartime incarceration, written by descendants of the WWII prisons and camps. EVENING ORACLE was originally handwritten at night before sleep in the beds of friends and strangers in Japan.