Garrett Hongo is a Yonsei

Yonsei (fourth-generation Nikkei)

is a Japanese diasporic term used in countries, particularly in North America and in Latin America, to specify the great-grandchildren of Japanese immigrants . The children of Issei are Nisei . Sansei are the third generation, and their offspring are Yonsei...

, fourth-generation Japanese American

Japanese American

are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...

 academic, poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 and academic. The work of this Pulitzer

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

-nominated writer draws on Japanese American history and own experiences.

Educational background

Hongo has attended Pomona College

Pomona College

Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...

 and the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

, and received a Master of Fine Arts

Master of Fine Arts

A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...

 degree in English from the University of California at Irvine.

Hongo has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Mr. and Mrs. Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died April 26, 1922...

, the National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...

, and the Rockefeller Foundation

Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...

.

Career

Hongo is a professor of creative writing at the University of Oregon

University of Oregon

-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...

. From 1989 through 1993, he was the director of the university's Program in Creative Writing.

Hongo has published two books of poetry: Yellow Light (1982) and The River of Heaven (1988), which was a Lamont Poetry Selection

James Laughlin Award

The James Laughlin Award, formerly the Lamont Poetry Prize, is given annually for a poet's second published book; it is the only major poetry award that honors a second book...

 of the Academy of American Poets

Academy of American Poets

The Academy of American Poets is a non-profit organization dedicated to the art of poetry. The Academy was incorporated as a "membership corporation" in New York State in 1934...

 and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

The Pulitzer Prize in Poetry has been presented since 1922 for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author. However, special citations for poetry were presented in 1918 and 1919.-Winners:...

. Volcano: A Memoir of Hawai'i (1995), was awarded the 2006 Oregon Book Award

Oregon Book Award

The Oregon Book Awards are presented annually by Literary Arts, Inc. for "the finest accomplishments by Oregon writers who work in genres of poetry, fiction, literary nonfiction, drama and young readers literature." -History:...

 for Literary Nonfiction. Hongo has also worked as an editor on Songs My Mother Taught Me: Stories, Plays and Memoir by Wakako Yamauchi

Wakako yamauchi

Wakako Yamauchi is a Nisei Asian American female writer. Her plays are considered pioneering works in Asian American theatre.- Biography :...

 (1994) and on The Open Boat: Poems from Asian America (1993).

Selected works

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Garett Hongo, OCLC

OCLC

OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...

/WorldCat

WorldCat

WorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative...

 includes roughly 30+ works in 70+ publications in 2 languages and 4,600+ library holdings .

• The Buddha Bandits down Highway 99 (1978)
• Yellow Light (1980)
• The Open boat: Poems from Asian America (1993)
• Volcano: a Memoir of Hawaiʻi (1995)
• The River of Heaven (1998)

See also

• List of Asian American writers
• List of people from Hawaii

Further reading

• Drake, Barbara. (1992). "Garrett Kaoru Hongo," in American Poets since World War II, 3rd series (Gwynn, R. S., ed.). Detroit, Michigan: Gale. 10-ISBN 0810375974/13-ISBN 9780810375970; OCLC 26158348
• Filipelli, Laurie. (1997). Garrett Hongo. Boise, Idaho: Boise State University Press. 10-ISBN 088430129X/13-ISBN 9780884301295; OCLC 37550317
• Fonseca, Anthony J. (2005). "Garrett Kaoru Hongo," in Asian American Writers (Madsen, Deborah L., ed.) Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale. 10-ISBN 078768130X/13-ISBN 9780787681302; OCLC 57414491
• Kamada, Roy Osamu. (2006). "Postcolonial Romanticisms: Landscape and the Possibilities of Inheritance in the Work of Jamaica Kincaid
  Jamaica Kincaid
  Jamaica Kincaid is a Caribbean novelist, gardener, and gardening writer. She was born in the city of St. John's on the island of Antigua in the nation of Antigua and Barbuda...
  
  , Garrett Hongo and Derek Walcott
  Derek Walcott
  Derek Alton Walcott, OBE OCC is a Saint Lucian poet, playwright, writer and visual artist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 and the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2011 for White Egrets. His works include the Homeric epic Omeros...
  
  ," in Dissertation Abstracts International, Section A: The Humanities and Social Sciences, 2006 Jan; 66 (7): 2573. U of California, Davis, 2005. (dissertation abstract)
• Schröder, Nicole. (2006). Spaces and Places in Motion: Spatial Concepts in Contemporary American Literature Tübingen, Germany: Gunter Narr. 13-ISBN 9783823362531/10-ISBN 3823362534; OCLC 76949181
• Witonsky, Trudi. (2000). "Twilight Conversations: Multicultural Dialogue," in Asian American Studies: Identity, Images, Issues Past and Present (Ghymn, Esther Mikyung, ed.) New York: Peter Lang. 10-ISBN 0820439258/13-ISBN 9780820439259; OCLC 40881565

Journals

• Colley, Sharon E. "An Interview with Garrett Hongo," Forkroads: A Journal of Ethnic-American Literature, 1996 Summer; 4: 47-63.
• Hull, Glynda. "This Wooden Shack Place: the Logic of an Unconventional Reading," College Composition and Communication, 1990 Oct; 41 (3): 287-98.
• Jarman, Mark. "The Volcano Inside," The Southern Review, 1996 Spring; 32 (2): 337-43.
• McCormick, Adrienne. "Theorizing Difference in Asian American Poetry Anthologies," MELUS: The Journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, 2004 Fall-Winter; 29 (3-4): 59-80.
• Sato, Gayle K. "Cultural Recuperation in Garrett Hongo's The River of Heaven," Studies in American Literature (Kyoto, Japan), 2001 Feb; 37: 57-74.
• Slowik, Mary. "Beyond Lot's Wife: the Immigration Poems of Marilyn Chin
  Marilyn Chin
  Marilyn Chin is an American poet who grew up in Portland, Oregon, after her family immigrated from Hong Kong. She received an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. Her awards include two National Endowment for the Arts grants, the Stegner Fellowship, the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award,...
  
  , Garrett Hongo, Li-Young Lee
  Li-Young Lee
  Li-Young Lee is an American poet. He was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, to Chinese parents. His maternal grandfather was Yuan Shikai, China's first Republican President, who attempted to make himself emperor...
  
  , and David Mura
  David Mura
  David Mura is a Japanese American author, poet, novelist, playwright, critic and performance artist. His most recent book is his novel, Famous Suicides of the Japanese Empire...
  
  ," MELUS, 2000 Fall-Winter; 25 (3-4): 221-42.

External links

• Academy of American Poets bio (accessed March 2008)
• Modern American Poetry page (accessed March 2008)