Ronald Phillip Tanaka (1944–2007) was a Japanese-American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and editor.

Life

He was a ''

Sansei is a Japanese and North American English term used in parts of the world such as South America and North America to specify the children of children born to ethnic Japanese in a new country of residence. The ''nisei'' are considered the second g ...

'' (a third-generation Japanese-American), born in the

Poston War Relocation Center The Poston Internment Camp, located in Yuma County (now in La Paz County) in southwestern Arizona, was the largest (in terms of area) of the ten American concentration camps operated by the War Relocation Authority during World War II. The sit ...

in Arizona in 1944 behind barbed wire. He attended

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...

, Claremont and the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

where he took an interdisciplinary Ph.D. Renaissance British Literature, philosophy of language and generative syntax and semantics under the tutelage of Julian C. Boyd. Ronald Tanaka taught English at the

California State University Sacramento California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...

. He was the single parent of two girls, Shinobu and Yoi.

Awards

* 1982

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

for ''The Shino Suite: Japanese-American Poetry'' * California Arts Council * Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission * Foundation of California State University, Sacramento

Works

* * * *''Systems Models for Literary Macro-theory'' (1976) *"On the Metaphysical Foundations of a Sansei Poetics", ''Journal of Ethnic Studies''

Anthologies

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanaka, Ronald Phillip 1944 births 2007 deaths American poets American poets of Asian descent Pomona College alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni California State University, Sacramento faculty Japanese-American internees American writers of Japanese descent Writers from Sacramento, California 20th-century American poets American Book Award winners