Path to Silence flyer

Thursday, February 24, 2022 • 7:00 pm

Athens-Clarke County Library
Appleton Auditorium
2025 Baxter Street
Athens, Georgia
706 613 3650

Please join us at Athens-Clarke County Library on February 24 at 7:00 pm for a talk by author Walt Mussell.

Mussell discusses Catholic missionary efforts in Japan during the mid-16th through mid-17th centuries, better known as Japan’s Christian Century. The Path to Silence: Japan’s Christian Century and Beyond focuses primarily on 1549-1650, a time when Japan rose in just over 60 years to have over 300 thousand Christian converts, only to see the religion driven underground about 30 years later under penalty of death. The title refers to Silence, a fictionalized account of an apostatic priest who helped the government persecute Christians. The book, written by Japanese author Shūsaku Endō, on 17th century persecution was released as a Scorsese movie in 2017.

Walt Mussell is an award-winning author who primarily writes historical fiction with a focus on medieval Japan, an interest he gained in the four years he lived there. He often refers to his work as “Like Shogun, but the heroine survives.” When he was unpublished, his works won the inspirational fiction categories in the Maggie, Lone Star, and Great Expectations writing contests. He finally became a published author when his first novel, The Samurai’s Heart, won a publishing contract through Amazon’s Kindle Scout program. He has since self-published The Samurai’s Honor, a prequel to The Samurai’s Heart. His newest work, A Second Chance, was released in August 2021. He lives in the Atlanta area, with his wife and two sons, working for a well-known corporation and writing in his spare time.

Preceding the talk, a related film will be screened in the Appleton Auditorium at 2:00 pm.

Both programs are free and open to the public. Masks are required in the library. For further information, visit www.athenslibrary.org/rslathens, or call 706 613 3650. The Athens-Clarke County Library is located at 2025 Baxter Street, Athens.

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