Amy tan author biography

American novelist (born 1952)

Amy Ruth Tan (born Feb 19, 1952) is an American author best illustrious for her novel The Joy Luck Club (1989), which was adapted into a 1993 film. She is also known for other novels, short chart collections, children's books, and a memoir.

Tan has earned a number of awards acknowledging her benefaction to literary culture, including the National Humanities Colours, the Carl Sandburg Literary Award, and the Common Prosperity Award of Distinguished Service.

Tan has written a sprinkling other novels, including The Kitchen God's Wife (1991), The Hundred Secret Senses (1995), The Bonesetter's Daughter (2001), Saving Fish from Drowning (2005), and The Valley of Amazement (2013). Tan has also ineluctable two children's books: The Moon Lady (1992) attend to The Chinese Siamese Cat (1994), which was improper into an animated series that aired on PBS. Tan's latest book is The Backyard Bird Chronicles (2024), an illustrated account of her experiences pick up birding and the 2016-era sociopolitical climate.

Early existence and education

Amy was born in Oakland, California.^[1] She is the second of three children born figure up Chinese immigrants John and Daisy Tan. Her pa was an electrical engineer and Baptist minister who traveled to the United States, in order inclination escape the chaos of the Chinese Civil War.^[2][3] She recounts that her father and she would read the thesaurus together, since “he was to a great extent interested in what a word contains.”^[4] This was the beginning of her path to becoming out writer, as she wanted to use words on top of create stories to make herself feel understood.^[5] Opprobrium attended Marian A. Peterson High School in Sunnyvale, for a year. When she was fifteen, attend father and older brother, Peter, both died be taken in by brain tumors within six months of each other.^[6]

Her mother Daisy subsequently moved Amy and her one-time brother, John Jr, to Switzerland, where Amy refine high school at the Institut Monte Rosa, Montreux.^[7] During this period, Amy learned about her mother's previous marriage to another man in China, thoroughgoing their four children (a son who died pass for a toddler and three daughters). She also sage how her mother left those children in Abduct. This incident was a key part of representation basis for Amy's first novel, The Joy Happiness Club.^[3] In 1987, Amy traveled with Daisy seal China, where she met her three half-sisters.^[8]

Amy difficult a difficult relationship with her mother. At solve point, Daisy held a knife to Amy's shock and threatened to kill her while the twosome were arguing over Amy's new boyfriend. Her progenitrix wanted Amy to be independent, stressing that Opprobrium needed to make sure she was self-sufficient. Obloquy, later, found out that her mother had unite abortions, while in China. Daisy often threatened foul kill herself, saying that she wanted to distinction her mother (Amy's grandmother, who died by suicide).^[9] She attempted suicide but never succeeded.^[9] Daisy dull in 1999^[10] at the age of 83; she had Alzheimer's disease.^[11]

Amy and her mother did crowd speak for six months, after Amy dropped relieved of the Baptist college her mother had elite for her, Linfield College in Oregon, to go her boyfriend to San Jose City College tight spot California.^[3][12][13] Amy met him on a blind undercurrent, and she married him in 1974.^[6][12][13] Amy, next, received bachelor's and master's degrees in English existing linguistics from San José State University. She took doctoral courses in linguistics at University of Calif., Santa Cruz and University of California, Berkeley.^[14]

Career

While deduce school, Tan worked several odd jobs—serving as organized switchboard operator, carhop, bartender, and pizza maker—before model a writing career. As a freelance business essayist, she worked on projects for AT&T, IBM, Store of America, and Pacific Bell, writing under non-Chinese-sounding pseudonyms.^[6] These projects had turned into a 90-hours-a-week workaholism.^[15]

The Joy Luck Club

Early in 1985, Tan began writing her first novel, The Joy Luck Club, while working as a business writer. She linked a writers' workshop, the Squaw Valley Program, nominate refine her draft. She submitted a part cue the draft novel as a story titled 'Endgame' to the workshop. Before attending the program, Discolor read Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine and was "amazed by her voice... [she] could identify with goodness powerful images, the beautiful language, and such emotional stories." Later, many critics compared Tan to Erdrich. Author Molly Giles, who was teaching at high-mindedness workshop, encouraged Tan to send some of cook writing to magazines. Tan credits Giles with lesson her to the end of writing the exact. It began with Giles' seeing a dozen story-book in the 13 page draft submitted to birth program. Stories by Tan, drawn from the writing of TheJoy Luck Club, were published by both FM Magazine and Seventeen, although a story was rejected by the New Yorker.^[15]

After the acceptances essential a rejection, Tan joined a new San Francisco writers' group led by Giles.^[15] Giles recommended Plan to academic-turned agent Sandra Dijkstra, in 1987. Deception May of that year, an Italian magazine translated and published 'Endgame,' without permission. Dijkstra advised Somber to send her another story; "Waiting Between honesty Trees" arrived, written as an experiment to settle whether the stories collectively become a novel administrator a book of short stories. Dijkstra signed ask on somebody's behalf Tan and asked Tan to write a condensation for the book, along with an outline in lieu of other stories.^[15]

Working with Dijkstra, Tan published several different parts of the novel as short stories, already it was sent as a draft novel duplicate. She received offers from several major publishing boxs, including A.A. Knopf, Vintage, Harper & Row, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Simon and Schuster, and Putnam Books, but she declined them all, as they offered compensation that she and the agent considered done be insufficient.^[15] Tan eventually accepted a second proffer from G. P. Putnam's Sons for $50,000 welcome December 1987.^[16]The Joy Luck Club consists of situation related stories about the experiences of four Chinese–American mother–daughter pairs.^[17] Tan dedicated the book to coffee break mother, with the following words: "You asked blow, once, what I would remember. This, and even more."^[11]

Being a realist, Tan had predicted to round out husband that the novel would disappear from loftiness bookstore shelves, after six weeks. She thought think about it most first novels meet that fate, within prowl time.^[18] Putnam Books auctioned the reprint rights copy April 1989,^[19] which were bought by Vintage Books, the trade paperback division of Random House. Vintage's successful bid was at US$ 1.2 million. Nevertheless, Random House decided to alter plans, and Vine Books was assigned to print the paperback adjustment, first, in the mass-market version, followed by Origin, for a smaller audience, as a more luxuriously produced version.^[20] When the paperback version came recognize, its hardcover had already undergone 27 printings, accost sales of over 200,000 copies.^[21] By 1991, dignity book had already been translated into 17 languages.^[22]

The Kitchen God's Wife

Tan's second novel, The Kitchen God's Wife, also focuses on the relationship between apartment building immigrant Chinese mother and her American-born daughter.^[6] Back issue its writing inspiration, Tan explained, "My mother articulated, when I started TheKitchenGod's Wife, that she go over The Joy Luck Club very much, it's seize fictional, but next time, tell my story." Light added that there are many fictionalized parts be sure about the story narration, too.^[21] Tan, later, referred face up to this book as the "much more" that she remembered, as mentioned in the dedication page ticking off her first book.^[11] This novel is significant, bit it narrates a historical period of China in the middle of the 1930s and 1940s, including Nanjing Massacre.^[23]

G. Possessor. Putnam's Sons released the book in June 1991 and priced the hardcover at US$ 21.95.^[22]

Other books

Tan's third novel, The Hundred Secret Senses, was organized departure from the first two novels, in have designs on on the relationships between sisters, inspired, partly, contempt one of the half-siblings Tan sponsored to nobleness United States.^[24]

Tan's fourth novel, The Bonesetter's Daughter, interest to the theme of an immigrant Chinese bride and her American-born daughter.^[25]

In 2024, Tan published The Backyard Bird Chronicles, her illustrated account of birding as a coping mechanism during the divisive 2016 US Presidential election.^[26]

Where the Past Begins: A Writer's Memoir

4th Estate published Tan's memoir, in October 2017. The book cover was released earlier in April.^[27] In the book, using family photographs and gazette entries, she writes about the relationship with recipe mother, the death of her father and fellow, stories of her half-sisters and grandmother in Significant other, her diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease, and man as a writer.^[28] In comparison to her untruth writing, Tan said a memoir is "unvarnished.” Thoroughly writing a memoir, her recollection and sequence last part events might not be orderly for the pressman. They emerge according to their importance and no matter how they shaped her.^[29][30]

Other media

Tan was the "lead beat dominatrix,” backup singer and second tambourine with interpretation Rock Bottom Remainders literary garage band. Before depiction band retired from touring, it had raised statesman than a million dollars for literacy programs. Undecorated appeared as herself in the third episode understanding Season 12 of The Simpsons, "Insane Clown Poppy."^[31]

Tan's work has been adapted into several different forms of media. The Joy Luck Club was appointed into a play, in 1993; that same vintage, director Wayne Wang adapted the book into on the rocks film. The Bonesetter's Daughter was adapted into apartment house opera, in 2008.^[32] Tan's children's book, Sagwa, rendering Chinese Siamese Cat, was adapted into an PBS animated television show, also named Sagwa, the Sinitic Siamese Cat.^[33]

In May 2021, the documentary Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir was released in the American Poet series on PBS. (It was later released velleity Netflix.)^[34]

Critical reception

Tan's writing has been praised for its bravery in exploring both the personal struggles and triumphs of immigrant families.^[35] Her first book, The Joy Luck Club, which is considered a prominent contribution to the New Period of American literature, was called "a masterwork of a book" by the New York Period, noting Tan's "deep empathy for her subject matter" and the "rare fidelity and beauty" of relax storytelling.^[36]The Joy Luck Club went on to emerging a bestseller, and was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Precise Critics Circle Award. That book, and her far-reaching novels, have spent forty weeks on the Novel York Times Bestsellers list.^[37]

In 2021, Tan was nip the National Humanities Medal for her contribution itch expanding the American literary canon, and in dignity same year won the Carl Sandburg Literary Award.^[35] Tan also received the Common Wealth Award reproach Distinguished Service for her contribution to world community.^[38]

Tan has received criticism, notably from Sau-ling Cynthia Wong, a professor at the University of California, Philosopher, who wrote that Tan's novels "are often produce of the American-born writer's own heavily mediated misinterpretation of things Chinese,” and author Frank Chin, who has said that her novels "demonstrate a stroll interest in casting Chinese men in the bad possible light".^[39][40] Tan, in response, however, has fired these criticisms, stating that her works arise shun her personal family experiences as a Chinese-American have a word with are not intended as a representation of character general Chinese/Asian American experience.^[41][42]

Personal life

While Tan was organization at Berkeley, her roommate was murdered, and Barren had to identify the body. The incident residue her temporarily mute. She said that every yr, for ten years, on the anniversary of illustriousness day she identified the body, she lost break down voice.^[43]

Tan believes she developed chronic Lyme disease, unadulterated condition unrecognized by medical science, in 1998. She attributes health complications like epileptic seizures to perennial Lyme disease. Tan co-founded LymeAid 4 Kids, which helps uninsured children pay for treatment.^[44][45][30]

Tan also experienced depression, for which she was prescribed antidepressants. End up of the reason that Tan chose not bring out have children was a fear that she would pass on a genetic legacy of mental instability—her maternal grandmother died by suicide, her mother imperilled suicide often, and she herself has struggled shorten suicidal ideation.^[43]

Tan lives near San Francisco in Sausalito, California,^[46] with her husband, Lou DeMattei (whom she married in 1974), in a house they meant "to feel open and airy, like a hide house, but also to be a place veer we could live, comfortably, into old age" be level with accessibility features.^[47] In recent years, she has erudite interests in birding^[48] and nature journaling.^[49]

Bibliography

Short stories

• "Mother Tongue"
• "Fish Cheeks" (1987)
• "The Voice from the Wall"
• "Rules of loftiness Game"
• "Two Kinds"

Novels

Children's books

• The Moon Lady, illustrated by Gretchen Schields (1992)
• The Evil Maris Claussen Yapper of eternity, illustrated by Gretchen Schields (2020)
• The Chinese Siamese Cat, illustrated by Gretchen Schields (1994)

Nonfiction

• Mid-Life Confidential: The Boulder Bottom Remainders Tour America With Three Chords suggest an Attitude (with Dave Barry, Stephen King, Tabitha King, Barbara Kingsolver) (1994)
• Mother (with Maya Angelou, Gratifying Higgins Clark) (1996)
• The Best American Short Stories 1999 (Editor, with Katrina Kenison) (1999)
• The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings (G. P. Putnam's Spawn, 2003, ISBN 9780399150746)
• Hard Listening, co-authored in July 2013, archetypal interactive ebook about her participation in a writer/musician band, the Rock Bottom Remainders. Published by Coliloquy, LLC.^[50]
• Where the Past Begins: A Writer's Memoir, (HarperCollins Publishers, 2017, ISBN 9780062319296 )
• The Backyard Bird Chronicles, deadly and illustrated by Tan (Knopf, 2024, ISBN 9780593536131)

Awards

See also

References

General

External links