Historic Joy Kogawa House. Joy Kogawa, author of the classic 1981 novel, Obasan, spent her early years in this 1912 home. She and her family were evicted from the house in 1942 and sent into internment in the Kootenays, an experience shared by more than 22,000 Canadians of Japanese ancestry. A campaign by the Save the Joy Kogawa House Committee and TLC The Land Conservancy of B.C. succeeded in establishing the house as a writers' residence in 2006. Sponsored by the Historic Joy Kogawa House Society.