Acclaimed author Mark Sakamoto to meet with incoming Artscis for this year’s Common Reading Program Visit

Arts & Science is thrilled to welcome author and entrepreneur Mark Sakamoto to campus on 8 September 2022. Sakamoto’s award-winning book, Forgiveness: A Gift from my Grandparents, is this year’s Common Reading Program selection. Over the summer months, incoming Arts & Science students read this moving book, which tells the story of Sakamoto’s paternal grandmother, Mitsue Sakamoto, who was interned along with many other Japanese Canadians by the government during WWII, and his maternal grandfather, Ralph Maclean—a soldier who was held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese army during that same conflict. At the upcoming visit, Level I Arts & Science students will have an opportunity to meet with Mr. Sakamoto, learn more about the journey he took in writing Forgiveness, and engage in discussion with him about the book and the ways in which it speaks to and engages with persisting social challenges and injustices.

For more information about Forgiveness: A Gift from my Grandparents, see the Harper Collins website.

For further information about Mark Sakamoto’s remarkable and wide-ranging career, which includes being trained as a lawyer; working as a music promoter, a senior political advisor, and an Executive Manager for the CBC; hosting and executive producing the CBC documentary series Good People; and serving as Executive Vice President of Think Research, see his profile on the McMaster Future of Canada project website.