By Charlette Hilton
Lincoln Parish, Ruston and Louisiana Tech are known all over the United States for attracting, nurturing
and producing exceptional people. In the case of Dr. Kenneth Robbins, Professor Emeritus Liberal Arts at
Louisiana Tech, exceptional is an understatement.
Robbins, an award-winning novelist and playwright, grew up on a chicken farm in Northwest Georgia. He
attended school in a three-room schoolhouse through the seventh grade. When he was 12 years
old, Robbins discovered Jack Schaefer’s novella, “Shane,” and fell in love with the joy of reading.
That love of reading morphed into a love of writing and at the age of 17 he published his first short story in the Beta Club Journal for which he earned $50 and writing became his passion.
His first novel, “Buttermilk Bottoms,” received the Associated Writing Programs Novel Award and was
published by the University of Iowa Press. That novel was also presented the Toni Morrison Prize for
Fiction. Robbins is at heart a playwright having written over 100 scripts for the stage with most of those
receiving world premieres. He has also published a short story collection, “Christmas Brittle,” published by Adelaide Books. His most recent novel, “Three Hiroshimas,” was just released in July.
“Three Hiroshimas” is family saga which weaves into the story of the Japanese-American Yamamoto
family, memorable details of Hiroshima before World War II and in the devastating fallout that war
rained upon Japan.
Robbins’ book touches on themes of prejudice and acceptance, conflict and forgiveness, the nature of family, and the search for home.
“My father died of lung cancer in 1984 and while rummaging through his life’s collection, I found a small cedar box filled with photo proofs from his time spent aboard the USS Circe, a cargo ship attached to the Northern Fleet and participated in the Okinawa invasion,” said Robbins.
Among those images, Robbins found a photo of his father in uniform standing with a comrade near a telephone pole. On that telephone pole was a hand-painted sign that read, “Atomic Field.”
“Alas, I discovered too late that my dad had actually visited Nagasaki immediately after the war ended. This led me to research the bombings and write my award-winning play, Atomic Field, which was produced at Tech in 2005,” said Robbins. “I was hooked on the subject. I read everything I could find and I visited both Hiroshima and Nagasaki several times. I actually lived in Hiroshima for three months,” he said.
Since his discovery of his father’s photograph, Robbins has been researching and writing about the
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki since 1994. As a recipient of a of a Japan Foundation Artists Fellowship, Robbins was provided with the support necessary to support extensive stays in Hiroshima where he worked with local enterprises and created a number of published and produced works, including “Atomic Field,” a drama in two acts, “Three Hiroshimas,” “In The Shelter of the Fold,” “Barnone” and many other works.
Robbins holds and Associate of Arts degree from Young Harris College, a Bachelor of Science from
Georgia Southern University, a Master of Fine Arts in Theater from the University of Georgia and a
Doctor of Philosophy in Speech from Southern Illinois University. His 48-year career in teaching included
stints as the Director of the School of Performing Arts, Louisiana Tech University, and the Chair of the
Department of Speech and Theater, Newberry College in South Carolina. He and his wife, Dorothy
Dodge Robbins have co-edited four collections of literary works including “Christmas Stories from
Louisiana.”
“Three Hiroshimas is the culmination of my research and writing about Japan,” said Robbins, “and as
such, brings that part of my life to a close. I like this book very much and feel that it would benefit
everyone to read it.”
