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Lisa See (born 18th February 1955) is an American writer and novelist. Her books include ''
On Gold Mountain ''On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family'' describes 100 years of author Lisa See's family history, providing a complex portrait of her family’s hard work, suffering, failures and successes as they moved fro ...
: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family'' (1995), a detailed account of See's family history, and the novels '' Flower Net'' (1997), '' The Interior'' (1999), ''
Dragon Bones Oracle bones () are pieces of ox scapula and turtle plastron, which were used for pyromancy – a form of divination – in ancient China, mainly during the late Shang dynasty. ''Scapulimancy'' is the correct term if ox scapulae were used for the ...
'' (2003), '' Snow Flower and the Secret Fan'' (2005), '' Peony in Love'' (2007) and '' Shanghai Girls'' (2009), which made it to the 2010 New York Times bestseller list. Both ''Shanghai Girls'' and ''Snow Flower and the Secret Fan'' received honorable mentions from the Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature. See's novel, '' The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane (2017)'', is a story about circumstances, culture, and distance among the
Akha people The Akha are an ethnic group who live in small villages at higher elevations in the mountains of Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Yunnan Province in China. They made their way from China into Southeast Asia during the early 20th century. Civil war in ...
of Xishuangbanna, China. Her 2019 novel '' The Island of Sea Women'' is a story about female friendship and family secrets on Jeju Island before, during and in the aftermath of the Korean War. ''Flower Net'', ''The Interior'', and ''Dragon Bones'' make up the Red Princess mystery series. ''Snow Flower and the Secret Fan'' and ''Peony in Love'' focus on the lives of Chinese women in the 19th and 17th centuries respectively. '' Shanghai Girls'' (2009) chronicles the lives of two sisters who come to Los Angeles in arranged marriages and face, among other things, the pressures put on Chinese-Americans during the anti-Communist mania of the 1950s. See completed a sequel titled '' Dreams of Joy'', released in May 2011. ''
China Dolls China Dolls (; ; ) are a famous pop music singing duo from Thailand. The group is composed of Pailin "Hwa Hwa" Rattanasangsatian and Supachaya "Bell" Lattisophonkul. Career The duo has released several albums since their formation in 1999 a ...
'' (June 2014) deals with Chinese American nightclub performers of the 1930s and 1940s. Writing under the pen name Monica Highland, See, her mother
Carolyn See Carolyn See (née Laws; January 13, 1934 – July 13, 2016) was a professor emerita of English at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the author of ten books, including the memoir, ''Dreaming: Hard Luck and Good Times in America'', a ...
, and John Espey, published two novels: ''Lotus Land'' (1983), ''110 Shanghai Road'' (1986), and ''Greetings from Southern California'' (1988), a collection of early 20th Century postcards and commentary on the history they represent. She has a personal essay ("The Funeral Banquet") included in the anthology ''Half and Half''. See has donated her personal papers (1973–2001) to
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
. During the 2012 Golden Dragon Chinese New Year Parade in Los Angeles Chinatown, See served as the Grand Marshal.


Early life

On February 18, 1955, See was born in Paris, France. See's mother was
Carolyn See Carolyn See (née Laws; January 13, 1934 – July 13, 2016) was a professor emerita of English at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the author of ten books, including the memoir, ''Dreaming: Hard Luck and Good Times in America'', a ...
, an American student who later became an English professor, writer, and novelist. See's father was Richard See, an American student who later became an anthropologist. See's parents were later divorced, and her mother married Tom Sturak. See has a half-sister, Clara Sturak. See has spent many years in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, California, especially in and around the Los Angeles Chinatown. Her paternal great-grandfather Fong See (鄺泗) was Chinese, making her one-eighth Chinese. This has had a great impact on her life and work. She has written for and led in many cultural events emphasizing the importance of Los Angeles and Chinatown.


Education

See graduated with a B.A. from
Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. It is located on the west side of the city near Playa Vista. LMU is the parent school to Loyola Law School, which is located ...
in 1979.


Career

See was the West Coast correspondent for ''
Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' (1983–1996). See has written articles for ''Vogue'', ''Self'', and ''More''; has written the libretto for the opera based on ''On Gold Mountain'', and has helped develop the Family Discovery Gallery for the Autry Museum, which depicts 1930s Los Angeles from the perspective of her father as a seven-year-old boy. Her exhibition ''On Gold Mountain: A Chinese American Experience'' was featured in the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, and the Smithsonian. See is also a public speaker.


Filmography

* 2019 To Climb a Gold Mountain - as herself.


Awards

Among her awards and recognitions are the Organization of Chinese Americans Women's 2001 award as National Woman of the Year and the 2003 History Makers Award presented by the Chinese American Museum. See serves as a Los Angeles City Commissioner.


Bibliography

* ''
On Gold Mountain ''On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family'' describes 100 years of author Lisa See's family history, providing a complex portrait of her family’s hard work, suffering, failures and successes as they moved fro ...
'': The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese American Family''. St. Martins Press, 1995. * '' Flower Net''. HarperCollins, 1997. * '' The Interior''. HarperCollins, 1999. * ''
Dragon Bones Oracle bones () are pieces of ox scapula and turtle plastron, which were used for pyromancy – a form of divination – in ancient China, mainly during the late Shang dynasty. ''Scapulimancy'' is the correct term if ox scapulae were used for the ...
''. Random House, Inc., 2003. * '' Snow Flower and the Secret Fan''. Random House, Inc., 2005. * '' Peony in Love''. Random House, Inc., 2007. * '' Shanghai Girls''. Random House, Inc., 2009. * ''Chinatown'' (guidebook), Angels Walk LA, 2003. * '' Dreams of Joy''. Random House, Inc., 2011. * ''
China Dolls China Dolls (; ; ) are a famous pop music singing duo from Thailand. The group is composed of Pailin "Hwa Hwa" Rattanasangsatian and Supachaya "Bell" Lattisophonkul. Career The duo has released several albums since their formation in 1999 a ...
''. Random House, Inc., 2014. * ''The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane''. Scribner, 2017. * '' The Island of Sea Women''. Scribner, 2019.


References


Additional sources

* Fenby, Jonathan. ''Modern China''. New York: HarperCollins Publishers (2008). * Gifford, Rob. ''China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power''. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks (2007). * Liu, Xian. "Lisa Lenine See". In ''Asian American Novelists: A Bio-Biblical Critical Sourcebook'', pp. 323–331. Ed. Nelson, Emmanuel S. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group Inc. (2000). * Pan, Philip P. ''Out of Mao's Shadow''. New York: Simon and Schuster (2008). * See, Carolyn. ''Dreaming: Hard Luck and Good Times in America''. Los Angeles: University of California Press (1996).


External links


"On Gold Mountain: A Chinese American Experience"
Autry Museum of Western Heritage.
Lisa See interviewed on ''Conversations from Penn State''
Youtube.com. {{DEFAULTSORT:See, Lisa 1955 births Living people American women novelists American women essayists American women historians American novelists of Chinese descent American women writers of Chinese descent Chinatown, Los Angeles Loyola Marymount University alumni Writers from Los Angeles Writers from California 20th-century American essayists 21st-century American essayists 20th-century American historians 21st-century American historians 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Historians from California