Eiko Nishikihama was born at the Japanese Fishermen's Hospital in the Steveston neighbourhood of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada on October 15, 1933.
[1] Her father, Taguchi Torasaburo, and mother, Sawae, were both naturalized Canadian citizens, having emigrated from Japan, and she was one of five children the couple raised in Vancouver's Japantown, or Paueru-gai.
[1] The family was not allowed to return to their coastal home after the war, moving to Middlechurch, Manitoba, and eventually settling in Winnipeg in 1949 when restrictions on the movement of Japanese Canadians were finally lifted.
[2][5] She has worked as a curator at art galleries in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia, and as an advisor to the Sanavik Inuit Cooperative in Nunavut.
[2] The memoir weaves together Thomson's translations of passages from her mother's diary along with her own stories of identity, trauma and racism and her efforts to find social justice for herself and others.