Books
The Nail That Sticks Out
The Nail That Sticks Out: Reflections on the Postwar Japanese Canadian Community is a unique hybrid memoir exploring an evolving community through memories of places, events and traditions while tackling issues of identity, belonging and racism.
Praise for The Nail That Sticks Out
“This brilliant voyage of discovery by a fourth-generation Japanese Canadian takes readers beyond the familiar narrative of internment and forced relocation during the Second World War.
What happened next? While telling her family story, Hartmann explores displacement, belonging, and race, and celebrates the struggle to preserve a Japanese presence in Canada. This lively story makes a significant contribution to the cultural conversation.”
– Ken McGoogan, whose latest book is Shadows of Tyranny: Defending Democracy in an Age of Dictatorship.
“With insight and integrity, Hartmann deftly weaves light and dark threads of personal experience, family lore, and Japanese Canadian history into a handcrafted kimono that captures the beautiful imperfections of life.”
“Suzanne Hartmann has written a warm, touching memoir, full of insights that reveal a part of Canadian society rarely talked about in literature and in general.
The Nail that Sticks Out reveals a community hidden in plain sight that is full of joy and tragedy, while avoiding all the stereotype characteristics of the Japanese and Japanese Canadians. Bravo Suzanne.”
– Terry Watada, recent publications include the novel Hiroshima Bomb Money and the poetry collection The Mask.
“In prose that brims with grace and candour, Suzanne Hartmann chronicles the legacy of her Japanese Canadian heritage in her search for independence. These compelling essays are richly textured, illuminating, and poignant.
As Hartmann re-assembles the shards of her family’s past and her coming of age, the joinery, like kintsugi, is transformational. A remarkable book.”
– Lorri Neilsen Glenn, author of The Old Moon in Her Arms: Women I Have Known and Been.
“At once a touching portrait of the unique experience of Japanese Canadians (JC), which many Canadians still don’t know, while beautifully speaking to the larger narrative of intergenerational love and hardship that echoes through the experience of all immigrant communities.
Furnishing readers with a moving perspective on JC migration and internment history, as well as an honest and “real” view of the multiculturalism of Toronto from the 1970s to the present, Hartmann’s erudite account reawakened memories of my own childhood and of the people and places that were important for those of us growing up mixed race and bicultural in Toronto.
Hartmann’s reflections on the beauty of being broken offers poetically thoughtful ways of inheriting and moving on with difficult pasts, which resonate with JC traditions and art and suggest heartwarming and hopeful ways forward for anyone growing up painfully split between cultures and between the past and present.
A book for anyone interested in memoir, mixed ethnicity, Canadian history, immigration and the history of immigrants in Canada, JCs, and the JC internment and Nikkei incarcerations in North America during the Second World War.”
— Lara Okihiro, author of Obaasan’s Boots.
“This most insightful memoir by Suzanne Hartmann reveals our most human desire to belong to a community fractured and spread out by the traumatic events of the Second World War.
At every turn, while Hartmann struggles to fit in, she also finds she cannot and occasionally will not – a struggle that in the end defiantly defines her as who she truly is. This is a memoir that recounts her community’s history and her role in it over the years as a performer, journalist, editor and writer.”
– Sally Ito, author of Heart’s Hydrography and The Emperor’s Orphans.
“The Nail That Sticks Out weaves together compelling community research and heartfelt family history to offer a glimpse into Japanese Canadian community amidst a legacy of uprooting, displacement and in-betweenness.
Navigating the uncertainty of both the past and the future, Hartmann’s magnetic writing is a compass for those looking for markers of memory, resilience and hope.”
– Leanne Toshiko Simpson, author of Never Been Better
“Full of rich remembrance and idiosyncratic detail, The Nail That Sticks Out is the story of a spirited woman, her family and her community, all of whom survived one of the most shameful chapters in Canada’s history – and thrived.
Honest and insightful, the book is a testament to Japanese Canadian resilience.”
– Kerri Sakamoto, author of Floating City.
Media Coverage
“Most Anticipated: Our Fall 2024 Nonfiction Preview. The best nonfiction you’ll be reading in the second half of 2024.”
– 49thShelf.com, Aug. 1, 2024
“54 Works of Canadian nonfiction to check out this fall.”
– CBC Books, Aug. 29, 2024
“Canadian books we can’t wait to read this October. Here are some of the most anticipated titles for the month.”
–CBC Books, Oct. 7, 2024
“Independently Published Bestsellers List: October 2024.”
– Hamilton Review of Books, Nov. 14, 2024
“Suzanne Hartmann: The Nail That Sticks Out.”
– The Bulletin, Nov. 16, 2024
My Father’s Nose
My Father’s Nose is a celebration of being different looking. Featuring a silly story with zany photos – it’s fun for the whole family! This is my first children’s book and was originally released in August 2016 as an eBook through Amazon’s Kindle Store.
After many requests from old-fashioned book lovers as well as the computer challenged I created the paperback version. My Father’s Nose is available on www.amazon.ca.
Reader reviews
5 out of 5 stars: Charming and Clever
August 3, 2016 “Story and illustrations are sure to charm and I love the clever references to Shakespeare and Easter Island, which will inspire young minds to investigate further.”
– Gail, Amazon.ca, Kindle customer
5 out of 5 stars: Wonderful start!
August 8, 2017 “A charming first venture into children’s literature. Interesting illustrations and prose both for the reader and listener. I hope we can expect more contributions from this author.”
– R. Siegel, Amazon.com, Kindle customer
5 out of 5 stars: A delightful little children’s book, written to encourage dialogue…
August 15, 2017 “A delightful little children’s book, written to encourage dialogue between your child and you. The more questions the child asks, the more he/she learns.”
– Amazon.com, book customer
Media coverage
Book Review: A Nose For Prose
My Father’s Nose is the new charming children’s book by Vitality magazine Listings Manager Suzanne Hartmann. – Vitality magazine
How to Teach Kids to Embrace Differences
“. . . it’s OK to be different from everyone else. Picture books that celebrate being different looking, like My Father’s Nose, can be an easy introduction. – Canadian Family .net
