Karen Tei Yamashita ( ja, 山下てい ; born January 8, 1951) is a Japanese-American writer.
Early life
Yamashita was born on January 8, 1951, in
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
.
Career
Yamashita is Professor of Literature at the
University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge of ...
, where she teaches creative writing and
Asian American literature. Her works, several of which contain elements of
magic realism, include novels ''I Hotel'' (2010), ''Circle K Cycles'' (2001), ''
Tropic of Orange
''Tropic of Orange'' is a novel set in Los Angeles and Mexico with a diverse, multi-ethnic cast of characters by Karen Tei Yamashita. Published in 1997, the novel is generally considered a work of magic realism but can also be considered science ...
'' (1997), ''Brazil-Maru'' (1992), and ''
Through the Arc of the Rain Forest'' (1990). Yamashita's novels emphasize the necessity of polyglot, multicultural communities in an increasingly globalized age, even as they destabilize orthodox notions of borders and national/ethnic identity.
She has also written a number of plays, including ''Hannah Kusoh,'' ''Noh Bozos'' and ''O-Men'' which was produced by the
Asian American theatre
Asian American theatre is theatre written, directed or acted by Asian Americans. From initial efforts by four theatre companies in the 1960s, Asian-American theatre has grown to around forty groups today. Early productions often had Asian themes ...
group,
East West Players
East West Players is an Asian American theatre organization in Los Angeles, founded in 1965. As the nation's first professional Asian American theatre organization, East West Players continues to produce works and educational programs that give v ...
.
Awards
In 2009, Yamashita received the Chancellor’s Award for Diversity from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She was a finalist for the 2010
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
. In 2011 she was named a Fellow of
United States Artists
United States Artists (USA) is a national arts funding organization based in Chicago. USA is dedicated to supporting living artists and cultural practitioners across the United States by granting unrestricted awards.
Mission
The organization' ...
. In 2013 she was co-appointed with
Bettina Aptheker
Bettina Fay Aptheker (born September 13, 1944) is an American political activist, radical feminist, professor and author. Aptheker was active in civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and has since worked in developing femini ...
as the UC Presidential Chair in Feminist Critical Race and Ethnic Studies; a position offered to distinguished members of the university's faculty intended to encourage new or interdisciplinary program development.
Yamashita was named the recipient of the National Book Foundation
Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in 2021.
Selected writings
* ''
Through the Arc of the Rain Forest''. (
Coffee House Press
Coffee House Press is a nonprofit independent press based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The press’s goal is to "produce books that celebrate imagination, innovation in the craft of writing, and the many authentic voices of the American experience ...
, 1990).
* ''Brazil-Maru''. (Coffee House Press, 1992).
* ''
Tropic of Orange
''Tropic of Orange'' is a novel set in Los Angeles and Mexico with a diverse, multi-ethnic cast of characters by Karen Tei Yamashita. Published in 1997, the novel is generally considered a work of magic realism but can also be considered science ...
''. (Coffee House Press, 1997).
* ''Circle K Cycles''. (Coffee House Press, 2001).
*
I Hotel'. (Coffee House Press, 2010).
* ''Anime Wong: Fictions of Performance'', edited with an afterword by Stephen Hong Sohn. (Coffee House Press, 2014).
* ''Letters to Memory''. (Coffee House Press, 2017).
* ''Sansei and Sensibility: Stories''. (Coffee House Press, 2020).
References
External links
*
*
*
*: Includes a list of critical work on the author and additional biographical details
*
*
Karen Tei Yamashita Papers MS 465. Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamashita, Karen Tei
American writers of Japanese descent
1951 births
Living people
American dramatists and playwrights of Japanese descent
Writers from Oakland, California
American women dramatists and playwrights
American novelists of Asian descent
American women writers of Asian descent
American women novelists
20th-century American novelists
20th-century American women writers
20th-century Japanese women writers
20th-century Japanese writers
Carleton College alumni
American Book Award winners
National Book Award winners
21st-century American women