News & Events

News

January 23, 2023
On this day in 1849 Elizabeth Blackwell received her medical degree–I talked about it on Times Radio Breakfast in the UK this morning.

June 16, 2022
Belatedly sharing a great interview with Nebraska Public Media’s All About Books with the excellent Pat Leach, Lincoln City Librarian.

May 9, 2022
The Doctors Blackwell is a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in biography. Profoundly, eternally grateful.

January 28, 2022
So happy to see the Blackwells on the NYTBR’s Paperback Row!

January 19, 2022
New essay at LitHub: “Excavating Emily.”

January 18, 2022
Happy new year! The Doctors Blackwell is out in paperback today!

December 3, 2021
Grateful to be a finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards in History & Biography! And a new podcast: Women in White Coats.

September 28, 2021
New podcast! Book Cougars: “Two middle-aged women on the hunt for a good read.”

August 10, 2021
A lovely review of TDB in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

June 14, 2021
Thrilled to find the Blackwells on “Best of the Year So Far” lists on Amazon and Goodreads!

June 8, 2021
Honored to review Elinor Cleghorn’s Unwell Women for the New York Times Book Review.

May 18, 2021
Loved this chance to profile the jewelry designer and sculptor Jill Platner for T Magazine–eternally grateful to her for inviting me inside her building at Bleecker & Crosby, where the Blackwells founded their infirmary in 1857. I proudly wear a pendant from Jill’s Blackwell collection in my author photo.

May 17, 2021
One more podcast: Talk Nerdy with the extraordinary Cara Santa Maria.

May 10, 2021
Amazed by and honored to participate in the Bedside Rounds podcast–I learned so much from Dr. Adam Rodman and Dr. Eleanor Taranto.

May 7, 2021
Enjoyed this conversation with Lisa Napoli for the Biographers International Organization podcast.

May 6, 2021
Grateful for this generous review in the Yale Alumni Magazine.

April 8, 2021
Loved my conversation with Roxanne Coady of RJ Julia Booksellers for her “Just the Right Book” podcast. Also, a new interview on the CUNY Gotham Center blog.

April 5, 2021
Blackwell audiobook featured in LitHub!

March 24, 2021
Happy to see a review in Columbia Magazine! And new podcast ep up today: Sound Practice.

March 22, 2021
The Blackwells as inspiration for this Washington Independent Review of Books blog post on resilience.

March 14, 2021
Grateful to Bill Goldstein of “Bill’s Books” on NBC News 4 NY for this truly generous endorsement!

March 4, 2021
Loved this conversation with Eve Yohalem and Julie Sternberg of Book Dreams. And thrilled to see the Blackwells in Kirkus’s “4 Books to Read for Women’s History Month.”

March 3, 2021
I got to play “Three Questions and an Answer” on Pamela Toler’s wonderful History in the Margins blog.

March 1, 2021
Happy Women’s History Month! Which, of course, should last all year, every year. Glad to find the Blackwells on this Goodreads roundup.

February 25, 2021
One more podcast interview, for Constant Wonder at BYU Radio in Utah.

February 24, 2021
New interview with Frank Buckley of KTLA in Los Angeles.

February 19, 2021
Loved this conversation with Greta Johnsen for WBEZ Chicago’s Nerdette Podcast.

February 5, 2021
A late-breaking review in the Washington Post!

February 3, 2021
Happy 200th birthday Elizabeth Blackwell! And also happy National Women Physicians Day, no coincidence. So glad to see a third excerpt in Ms. Magazine, as well as a new interview in the Saturday Evening Post. And thrilled to see the coverage in the Blackwells’ native Britain: a two-page spread in the Bristol Post, my capsule bio of Elizabeth in the BBC’s HistoryExtra, and even a mention in the The Lancet!

January 31, 2021
New episode: Boston Museum of Science’s Pulsar podcast.

January 29, 2021
A lovely review in Undark, plus a new podcast interview this weekend on Healthlink on Air. And TDB is a New York Times Editor’s Choice!

January 27, 2021
Whoa. First a fun “Reading with…” feature on Shelf Awareness. Then a terrific interview with Ailsa Chang on All Things Considered. And finally, The Doctors Blackwell debuts at #11 on the New York Times bestseller list! A banner day.

January 25, 2021
Stunned and honored to see the Blackwells featured in the New Yorker. Also: second excerpt–on Elizabeth Blackwell and Madame Restell, the Fifth Avenue Abortionist, up on Jezebel.

January 23, 2021
On the anniversary of Elizabeth’s graduation from medical school, Humanities Magazine has published an excerpt telling the story of her admission! Plus two new reviews in The National Book Review and Bookreporter.

January 22, 2021
Blown away by Joanna Scutts’s review in this Sunday’s New York Times Book Review.

January 21, 2021
Speechlessly grateful for Jennifer Szalai’s review in the New York Times, not to mention reviews in the Boston Globe and on NPR, as well as this interview up on Shondaland.

January 20, 2021
INAUGURATION DAY!
And in smaller news, new essay up at LitHub, and grateful for this nice review in the Seattle Times.

January 19, 2021
Publication day!! Beyond grateful for two interviews today: one with Dave Davies for NPR’s Fresh Air, and the other with Dr. Emily Silverman for The Nocturnists podcast. Book events start tonight, and I’ll be adding more, so check back.

January 18, 2021
Great coverage in USA Today—twice!

January 15, 2021
New essay up on the Powell’s Books blog, on following in the footsteps of ghosts. Also, a review in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

January 14, 2021
Lovely review in Bookpage, and the Blackwells make the 2021 preview list at The Week!

January 13, 2021
TDB is one of Buzzfeed’s “Most Anticipated Books of 2021“!

January 12, 2021
New Q&A at the Washington Independent Review of Books, thanks to the extraordinary Heath Lee.

January 11, 2021
So happy to see this review in Nature, and find the Blackwells on a new “Most Anticipated” list at The Millions.

January 9, 2021
Lucky #13 on Oprah Magazine’s “20 Best Books to Pick Up This January“!

January 8, 2021
Gobsmacked by this incredibly generous review in the Wall Street Journal!

January 6, 2021
New year, new essay, up today in Smithsonian.

December 31, 2020
Starred review in Library Journal! Who needs champagne tonight?

December 29, 2020
One last gift under the tree: the Blackwells are one of the Washington Post‘s “10 Books to Read in January.”

December 23, 2020
Happy holidays indeed: the Blackwells in the New York Times‘ “13 New Books to Watch for in January“!

December 22, 2020
Grateful for these mentions in Entertainment Weekly and Scientific American–the Blackwells have range!

December 13, 2020
The Doctors Blackwell in Discover Magazine!

December 8, 2020
What an absolutely lovely review by Dr. Danielle Ofri in The American Scholar–profoundly grateful.

November 13, 2020
My first teleprompter: a video essay, “The Value of Writing Our Way Through a Tumultuous 2020,” aired on PBS NewsHour tonight. Judy Woodruff said my name!

November 10, 2020
A new essay, “Wingtips and Shell-Toes,” up on The Rumpus. Grateful to be the Rumpus Book Club December pick! Click here for details on how to get The Doctors Blackwell a month before publication, and join me for a chat.

November 5, 2020
Beyond grateful for a star in Kirkus Reviews! Here’s the link.

October 26, 2020
A second pre-pub star in Booklist! Read it here.

August/September, 2020
First pre-pub review: a star in Publishers Weekly! Read it here. Grateful also for this PW Q&A, and this lovely feature with editor Alane Mason and agent Rob McQuilkin.

July 9, 2020
“Visited” Cincinnati as part of the Cincinnati Museum Center’s STEM Girls Virtual interview series; click here to view.

April 22, 2020
Grateful to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation for hosting my talk on the Blackwells and public health.

July 1, 2019
Still talking: new interview on the Japan Station podcast.

January 25, 2019
Who wants to work on the next book when it’s so much easier to talk about the last one? Honored to be included in the Meiji at 150 Podcast via the University of British Columbia.

August 16, 2018
My review of Tracy Franz’s My Year of Dirt and Water, in this Sunday’s New York Times Book Review.

December 2, 2017
A new essay, “Falling in Love with a Second Story,” in this week’s Publishers Weekly.

October 25, 2017
Great morning at Riverdale Country School, who were nice enough to livestream my talk.

August 11, 2017
I wrote a roundup of newly translated Japanese fiction for the New York Times Book Review.

August 2, 2017
Thrilled to be the recipient of a 2017 Public Scholar Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities for my work in progress, Sister Doctors, a biography of Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell.

February 18, 2017
A late-breaking review from The Japan News: “What a treasure is Daughters of the Samurai.”
read full review

January 6, 2017
New year, new project! “Meet the Blackwells,” a brief look at what I’ll be working on for the next stretch.

October 1, 2016
A new essay, “Citizen of the Twitterverse,” up on Medium.

July 15, 2016
In case you’ve missed my talk, here’s a great video produced by the Retired Men’s Association of Greenwich, CT, where I spoke this week.

June 1, 2016
Daughters featured on Paperback Row in this Sunday’s New York Times Book Review.

May 27, 2016
A new interview up at the Washington Independent Review of Books.

May 17, 2016
Paperback officially on sale! To celebrate, here’s a new essay on historytelling, at the Literary Hub.

April 15, 2016
My review of Lynne Kutsukake’s debut novel of postwar Japan, The Translation of Love, in the New York Times Book Review.

April 9, 2016
Asian Review of Books: “Superbly evokes 19th and early 20th century Japan, and to a lesser extent the 19th century United States, through the lives of these three remarkable women, who so dramatically influenced the evolution of their homeland.”
Read full review

March 30, 2016
Daughters now available in Japanese: Shojo-tachi no Meiji-ishin: futatsu no bunka o ikita 30-nen.

January 28, 2016
Grateful to Booklist for including me in their Top 10 Multicultural Nonfiction list.

January 22, 2016
A new essay in the New York Times Book Review, on serendipity in the stacks.

January 21, 2016
Why aren’t more women writing history? Happy to be included in Bustle’s list of 25 History Books Written by Women, a great response to this recent article in Slate.

January 20, 2016
Foreign sales report: translation rights for Daughters have now sold in Japan, China, and Taiwan.

December 23, 2015
Proud to be part of Bustle’s #BustleReads Challenge 2016.

December 21, 2015
Winter solstice surprise: Daughters on Buzzfeed’s Best Nonfiction of 2015!

December 4, 2015
Ditto Seattle Times Best Books 2015!

November 27, 2015
Thanksgiving indeed: Daughters makes the 2015 New York Times Notable list.

October 6, 2015
New podcast up at WritersCast: listen here.

October 3, 2015
My review of Kenzaburo’s latest novel, Death by Water, in the New York Times Book Review.

September 8, 2015
W.W. Norton announces second printing!

August 21, 2015
Lively interview on WABC Radio’s John Batchelor Show–listen here.

August 12, 2015
Q&A on Deborah Kalb’s amazing blog.

August 9, 2015
Washington Post: “[Nimura’s] descriptions of landscapes are poetic, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a novelist who is as deft at portraying relationships and inner thoughts…She skillfully bridges Japanese and American cultures, using the seemingly small story of three young people to tell a much larger tale of another time.”
read full review

August 6, 2015
Beyond thrilled to be Hanya Yanagihara’s summer reading pick in Conde Nast Traveler!

August 3, 2015
Audiobook out this week from Audible: purchase here.

July 30, 2015
A quick interview on San Francisco’s KALW–listen here.

July 29, 2015
Honored to join a Reader’s Review panel on WAMU’s Diane Rehm Show, discussing Christina Baker Kline’s “Orphan Train”–listen here.

July 27, 2015
New essay up on Medium today, on the importance of letters–read it here.

July 20, 2015
Thoroughly enjoyed this afternoon’s conversation with Leonard Lopate on WNYC! Listen here.

July 18, 2015
Deseret News: “Engagingly told…a poignant tale of ordinary girls who made history.”
read full review

July 18, 2015
Lovely article and excerpt in the Vassar Quarterly.

July 16, 2015
Fun interview on the new podcast Modern Notion–listen here.

July 9, 2015
Los Angeles Review of Books: “In Daughters of the Samurai, Janice P. Nimura achieves the elusive dream of the historian, producing a work that will engage and satisfy academic and non-specialist audiences alike… Daughters of the Samurai is, perhaps, less a story of Japanese out of place in their country, than of women ahead of their time.”
read full review

June 24, 2015
Amazon makes Daughters of the Samurai one of its “Best Books of the Year So Far” in the category of history!

June 20, 2015
Dallas Morning News: “Daughters of the Samurai reads like a novel about the meeting of East and West and how it transformed the lives of three extraordinary young women.”
read full review

June 17, 2015
Really enjoyed this interview with website Daily Samsara in Singapore.

June 13, 2015
CSPAN BookTV’s coverage of my May 13 event at Vroman’s aired tonight; watch it here.

June 12, 2015
Daughters of the Samurai in Ireland! Talked to Sean Moncrieff of Dublin’s Newstalk Radio this morning.

June 9, 2015
Appeared on Portland’s morning show “AM Northwest” this morning.

June 8, 2015
Return to SF’s KALW: this time for an interview on “Crosscurrents.”

June 7, 2015
Daughters of the Samurai is a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice.

June 6, 2015
Tickled to be on KALW’S “West Coast Live” this morning in San Francisco.

June 4, 2015
The San Francisco Chronicle makes Daughters of the Samurai a summer pick!

June 3, 2015
Honored to participate in a videoconference hosted by the U.S.-Japan Council with veteran newscaster Fred Katayama. It’s up on YouTube or as a podcast.

May 29, 2015
The New York Times Book Review: “Beautifully written…In Nimura’s deftly interwoven account, the three girls emerge as contrasting types, like Chekhov’s ‘Three Sisters.'”
read full review

May 26, 2015
Now I can say I’ve been on Oprah!

May 23, 2015
The Japan Times ran this interview today: “The ‘Daughters of the Samurai’ Who Changed the Face of Meiji Era Japan”

May 19, 2015
Thrilled with this interview on the Wall Street Journal‘s Speakeasy blog: “‘Daughters of the Samurai’ Sheds Light on a Strange Chapter in U.S.-Japanese History”

May 13, 2015
First radio interview today: “The Joe Show” on KBAI, Bellingham, WA.

May 8, 2015
The Seattle Times: “Nimura has written a superb history… This remarkable and beautifully written story—often as riveting as a page-turning novel—is both scholarly and accessible to non-specialists.”
read full review

May 6, 2015
Wonderful review in the Christian Science Monitor: “Set aside ample time: You won’t welcome intrusions while reading this unprecedented, true story…”
Read full review

April 29, 2015
I’ve got an essay on raising bilingual kids–or not–on Salon.com.

April 28, 2015
Daughters of the Samurai is Booklist‘s Review of the Day!

April 27, 2015
Extensive and extremely generous review in the University Bookman: “The real strength of Nimura’s book lies in her ability to zoom and pan with the smoothness of a master historian.”
Read full review

April 4, 2015
My review of two novellas by Yasushi Inoue in the April 5 issue of the New York Times Book Review.

April 2, 2015
Win a copy of Daughters of the Samurai on Goodreads! Goodreads is giving away 20 copies: enter by clicking here between now and April 30.

March 19, 2015
The last pre-pub review is in: a star from Booklist! “Nimura brings the girls and their late nineteenth-century exploits to life in a narrative that feels like an international variation on Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, so very appealing and delightful are their historic stories.”
Read full review

March 15, 2015
A starred review from Library Journal: “Independent scholar Nimura has written an exquisite collective biography… A captivating read for biography lovers, readers interested in America’s Gilded Age or late Meiji Japan, and fans of Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha.”
Read full review

March 7, 2015
Just in from Publishers Weekly: “Through the sensitive weaving of correspondence and archival papers, Nimura produces a story of real-life heroines in this masterful biography of three samurai daughters sent to the U.S. after the Civil War.”
Read full review

Jan. 4, 2015
A starred review from Kirkus: “An extraordinary, elegantly told story of the beginning of Japan’s education and emancipation of its women.”
Read full review