Daughter of Hiroshima couple to speak at festival

A woman whose parents were exposed to the atomic bomb dropped in Hiroshima is to speak about her family's experience at a university's peace festival.

Kyoko Gibson was born three years after the Japanese city was devastated by the blast, which killed an estimated 140,000 people.

She will speak to students and discuss the importance of peace at an event at the University of Warwick in Coventry on Sunday.

The free festival aims to "inspire action and dialogue around peace, sustainability, and nuclear disarmament," a university spokesperson said.

The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had atomic bombs dropped on them by the United States at the end of World War Two.

The nuclear radiation released by them caused thousands more people to die from radiation sickness in the weeks, months and years that followed.

Ms Gibson, who grew up among the ruins of Hiroshima, will speak at the This Is Our Age peace festival at Warwick Arts Centre between 10:00 and 16:00 BST.

Organised in collaboration with Buddhist group Soka Gakkai International UK, the event will feature three exhibitions with workshops, live music and other activities.

Event organiser Prof Vicki Squire said the experiences of survivors -known as hibakusha in Japan - or those directly related to them was an "incredibly valuable and rare perspective".

"We’re grateful that our children and young people will have the chance to hear such moving testimony about the importance of peace," she said.

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