Hyphen is an American magazine, produced three times a year by a volunteer staff; it is a not-for-profit organization. It was founded in 2002 by a group of San Francisco Bay Area

San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

 journalists, activists, and artists including Melissa Hung, a former reporter for the Houston Press

Houston Press

The Houston Press is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in Downtown Houston....

 and East Bay Express

East Bay Express

The East Bay Express is an Oakland-based weekly newspaper serving the Berkeley, Oakland, and East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area...

; Claire Light, former program manager for Kearny Street Workshop

Kearny Street Workshop

Kearny Street Workshop in San Francisco, California, is the oldest multidisciplinary arts nonprofit addressing Asian Pacific American issues.The organization's mission is to produce and present art that enriches and empowers Asian Pacific American communities....

; Yuki Tessitore, of Mother Jones, and filmmaker Jennifer Huang. Stefanie Liang, a graphic designer from Red Herring magazine joined the staff as artistic director before the publication of the first issue. Its advisory board includes notable Asian American journalists such as Helen Zia

Helen Zia

Helen Zia is an American journalist and scholar who has covered Asian American communities and social and political movements for decades.-Life and career:...

 and Nguyen Qui Duc, the host of Pacific Time

Pacific Time (radio show)

Pacific Time was a weekly radio program that covered a wide range of Asian American, East Asian and Southeast Asian issues, including economics, language, politics, public policy, business, the arts and sports...

. The first issue was released in June 2003. Hyphen is one of several Asian American media ventures created in the wake of A Magazine

A Magazine

A Magazine was founded in 1989 by Jeff Yang, Amy Chu, Sandi Kim and Bill Yao to cover Asian American issues and culture, and grew out of a campus magazine Yang edited while an undergraduate at Harvard University....

s demise.

Shortly after its release, the publication was sharply criticized by AsianWeek

AsianWeek

AsianWeek was a widely circulated publication of Asian American news, across all Asian ethnic groups, providing coverage of Asian-American issues such as the killing of Vincent Chin, Asian American college admissions, and quotas on Chinese students in competitive San Francisco examination schools...

 columnist Emil Guillermo

Emil Guillermo

Emil Guillermo is a print and broadcast journalist, commentator and humorist. He writes a column, "Emil Amok," for AsianWeek- the most widely read and largest circulating Asian American newsweekly in the U.S....

 who theorized that Hyphens young editors were arrogant, ashamed of their Asian heritage, and disrespectful of existing ethnic media in his weekly column. He later said that he had not actually read the magazine.

The magazine's first issue contained a story package on the history of Asian American community activism. Its content is decidedly to the left, feminist, and non-mainstream. Its coverage includes politics, arts, and pop culture.

In 2004, the magazine was nominated for an Utne Independent Press Award for Best New Title. In January 2006, Hyphens Body Issue won the Independent Press Association's Best Cover award for an image of an Asian American man, Yusuke Miyashita, partially submerged in a bathtub full of edamame

Edamame

or Edamame bean is a preparation of immature soybeans in the pod commonly found in Japan, China, and Hawaii. The pods are boiled in water together with condiments such as salt, and served whole....

.
Mr. Hyphen, a pageant created by the magazine to showcase more positive images of Asian American men, debuted in May 2006. In the fall of 2007, the magazine received its second nomination for an Utne Independent Press Award, this time for Best Design.

On May 5, 2010, Hyphen and the Asian American Action Fund

Asian American Action Fund

The Asian American Action Fund is a Washington, D.C.-based Democratic political action committee and 501 non-profit organization founded in 1999. AAAF's goal is to increase the voice of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in every level of local, state and federal government in the United States...

announced a cross-posting partnership.