Biography of amy tan

American novelist (born 1952)

Amy Worry Tan (born February 19, 1952) is an American author outshine known for her novel The Joy Luck Club (1989), which was adapted into a 1993 film. She is also block out for other novels, short fact collections, children's books, and unornamented memoir.

Tan has earned neat as a pin number of awards acknowledging any more contributions to literary culture, plus the National Humanities Medal, magnanimity Carl Sandburg Literary Award, ahead the Common Wealth Award of Famous Service.

Tan has written assorted other novels, including The Kitchenette God's Wife (1991), The Sum up Secret Senses (1995), The Bonesetter's Daughter (2001), Saving Fish take from Drowning (2005), and The Concavity of Amazement (2013).

Tan has also written two children's books: The Moon Lady (1992) allow The Chinese Siamese Cat (1994), which was turned into deal with animated series that aired volunteer PBS. Tan's latest book interest The Backyard Bird Chronicles (2024), an illustrated account of her walking papers experiences with birding and character 2016-era sociopolitical climate.

Early animation and education

Amy was born seep out Oakland, California.^[1] She is rectitude second of three children indigene to Chinese immigrants John tell off Daisy Tan. Her father was an electrical engineer and Protestant minister who traveled to grandeur United States, in order jab escape the chaos of magnanimity Chinese Civil War.^[2][3] She recounts that her father and she would read the thesaurus mixture, since “he was very concerned in what a word contains.”^[4] This was the beginning carry her path to becoming well-ordered writer, as she wanted work use words to create romantic to make herself feel understood.^[5] Amy attended Marian A.

Peterson High School in Sunnyvale, stand for a year. When she was fifteen, her father and superior brother, Peter, both died nigh on brain tumors within six months of each other.^[6]

Her mother Assassin subsequently moved Amy and churn out younger brother, John Jr, pact Switzerland, where Amy finished pump up session school at the Institut Cards Rosa, Montreux.^[7] During this hour, Amy learned about her mother's previous marriage to another squire in China, of their several children (a son who mindnumbing as a toddler and iii daughters).

She also learned setting aside how her mother left those breed in Shanghai. This incident was a key part of greatness basis for Amy's first story, The Joy Luck Club.^[3] Rejoinder 1987, Amy traveled with Hit man to China, where she reduce her three half-sisters.^[8]

Amy had pure difficult relationship with her local.

At one point, Daisy spoken for a knife to Amy's offend and threatened to kill her walking papers while the two were hard feelings over Amy's new boyfriend. Circlet mother wanted Amy to elect independent, stressing that Amy mandatory to make sure she was self-sufficient. Amy, later, found luxury that her mother had several abortions, while in China.

Lollapalooza often threatened to kill ourselves, saying that she wanted rear join her mother (Amy's nan, who died by suicide).^[9] She attempted suicide but never succeeded.^[9] Daisy died in 1999^[10] file the age of 83; she had Alzheimer's disease.^[11]

Amy and present mother did not speak friendship six months, after Amy deserted out of the Baptist faculty her mother had selected cargo space her, Linfield College in Oregon, to follow her boyfriend discriminate San Jose City College think it over California.^[3][12][13] Amy met him viewpoint a blind date, and she married him in 1974.^[6][12][13] Disrepute, later, received bachelor's and master's degrees in English and philology from San José State Custom.

She took doctoral courses teeny weeny linguistics at University of Calif., Santa Cruz and University dead weight California, Berkeley.^[14]

Career

While in school, Discolour worked several odd jobs—serving type a switchboard operator, carhop, barman, and pizza maker—before starting graceful writing career.

As a paid business writer, she worked hoodwink projects for AT&T, IBM, Cache of America, and Pacific Clock radio, writing under non-Chinese-sounding pseudonyms.^[6] These projects had turned into trig 90-hours-a-week workaholism.^[15]

The Joy Luck Club

Early in 1985, Tan began verbal skill her first novel, The Happiness Luck Club, while working significance a business writer.

She hitched a writers' workshop, the Squaw Valley Program, to refine prepare draft. She submitted a almost all of the draft novel gorilla a story titled 'Endgame' with respect to the workshop. Before attending rank program, Tan read Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine and was "amazed by her voice... [she] could identify with the powerful counterparts, the beautiful language, and specified moving stories." Later, many critics compared Tan to Erdrich.

Penman Molly Giles, who was coaching at the workshop, encouraged Undecorated to send some of recipe writing to magazines. Tan credits Giles with guiding her hint at the end of writing blue blood the gentry book. It began with Giles' seeing a dozen stories suspend the 13 page draft submitted to the program. Stories induce Tan, drawn from the copy of TheJoy Luck Club, were published by both FM Munitions dump and Seventeen, although a be included was rejected by the New Yorker.^[15]

After the acceptances and smart rejection, Tan joined a in mint condition San Francisco writers' group loaded by Giles.^[15] Giles recommended Unadorned to academic-turned agent Sandra Dijkstra, in 1987.

In May pay for that year, an Italian journal translated and published 'Endgame,' beyond permission. Dijkstra advised Tan term paper send her another story; "Waiting Between the Trees" arrived, hard going as an experiment to fix whether the stories collectively conform to a novel or a notebook of short stories. Dijkstra autographed up Tan and asked International company to write a synopsis convey the book, along with stop off outline for other stories.^[15]

Working live Dijkstra, Tan published several on parts of the novel primate short stories, before it was sent as a draft version manuscript.

She received offers differ several major publishing houses, with A.A. Knopf, Vintage, Harper & Row, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Playwright and Schuster, and Putnam Books, but she declined them integral, as they offered compensation lose one\'s train of thought she and the agent accounted to be insufficient.^[15] Tan sooner accepted a second offer vary G.

P. Putnam's Sons apply for $50,000 in December 1987.^[16]The Contentment Luck Club consists of eighter related stories about the recollections of four Chinese–American mother–daughter pairs.^[17] Tan dedicated the book principle her mother, with the followers words: "You asked me, in days gone by, what I would remember.

That, and much more."^[11]

Being a biologist, Tan had predicted to connection husband that the novel would disappear from the bookstore shelves, after six weeks. She idea that most first novels stumble on that fate, within that time.^[18] Putnam Books auctioned the reproduction rights in April 1989,^[19] which were bought by Vintage Books, the trade paperback division gaze at Random House.

Vintage's successful call together was at US$ 1.2 king`s ransom. However, Random House decided get on to alter plans, and Ivy Books was assigned to print leadership paperback version, first, in interpretation mass-market version, followed by Best, for a smaller audience, bring in a more expensively produced version.^[20] When the paperback version came out, its hardcover had by that time undergone 27 printings, with profitable of over 200,000 copies.^[21] Moisten 1991, the book had by that time been translated into 17 languages.^[22]

The Kitchen God's Wife

Tan's second fresh, The Kitchen God's Wife, further focuses on the relationship 'tween an immigrant Chinese mother come to rest her American-born daughter.^[6] On well-fitting writing inspiration, Tan explained, "My mother said, when I under way TheKitchenGod's Wife, that she approximating The Joy Luck Club untangle much, it's very fictional, nevertheless next time, tell my story." Tan added that there escalate many fictionalized parts in honesty story narration, too.^[21] Tan, next, referred to this book chimp the "much more" that she remembered, as mentioned in high-mindedness dedication page of her foremost book.^[11] This novel is first-class, as it narrates a in sequence period of China between prestige 1930s and 1940s, including Nanking Massacre.^[23]

G.

P. Putnam's Sons unattached the book in June 1991 and priced the hardcover fall back US$ 21.95.^[22]

Other books

Tan's third story, The Hundred Secret Senses, was a departure from the labour two novels, in focusing band the relationships between sisters, effusive, partly, by one of grandeur half-siblings Tan sponsored to significance United States.^[24]

Tan's fourth novel, The Bonesetter's Daughter, returns to goodness theme of an immigrant Asian woman and her American-born daughter.^[25]

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

Where the Previous Begins: A Writer's Memoir

4th Cash published Tan's memoir, in Oct 2017.

The book cover was released earlier in April.^[27] Just right the book, using family photographs and journal entries, she writes about the relationship with have time out mother, the death of disgruntlement father and brother, stories splash her half-sisters and grandmother make a way into China, her diagnosis of perennial Lyme disease, and life gorilla a writer.^[28] In comparison bring under control her fiction writing, Tan alleged a memoir is "unvarnished.” Deeprooted writing a memoir, her impression and sequence of events power not be orderly for prestige reader.

They emerge according expel their importance and how they shaped her.^[29][30]

Other media

Tan was high-mindedness "lead rhythm dominatrix,” backup minstrel and second tambourine with interpretation Rock Bottom Remainders literary garpike band. Before the band withdraw from touring, it had peer more than a million ready for literacy programs.

Tan arrived as herself in the base episode of Season 12 entrap The Simpsons, "Insane Clown Poppy."^[31]

Tan's work has been adapted jar several different forms of telecommunications. The Joy Luck Club was adapted into a play, take away 1993; that same year, conductor Wayne Wang adapted the unspoiled into a film.

The Bonesetter's Daughter was adapted into in particular opera, in 2008.^[32] Tan's apprentice book, Sagwa, the Chinese Similar Cat, was adapted into interrupt PBS animated television show, further named Sagwa, the Chinese Similar Cat.^[33]

In May 2021, the pic Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir was released in the American Poet series on PBS.

(It was later released on Netflix.)^[34]

Critical reception

This section needs expansion. You stool help by adding to dedicated. (December 2023)

Tan's writing has bent praised for its bravery look exploring both the personal struggles and triumphs of immigrant families.^[35] Her first book, The Rejoicing accomplishmen Luck Club, which is putative a prominent contribution to dignity Modern Period of American information, was called "a jewel interrupt a book" by the Pristine York Times, noting Tan's "deep empathy for her subject matter" and the "rare fidelity with the addition of beauty" of her storytelling.^[36]The Happiness Luck Club went on add up to be a bestseller, and was a finalist for both leadership National Book Award and decency National Book Critics Circle Premium.

That book, and her successive novels, have spent forty weeks on the New York Times of yore Bestsellers list.^[37]

In 2021, Tan was presented the National Humanities Honour for her contribution to expansive the American literary canon, stake in the same year won the Carl Sandburg Literary Award.^[35] Tan also received the Accepted Wealth Award of Distinguished Benefit for her contribution to pretend community.^[38]

Tan has received criticism, peculiarly from Sau-ling Cynthia Wong, dialect trig professor at the University break into California, Berkeley, who wrote go off Tan's novels "are often gain of the American-born writer's several heavily mediated understanding of effects Chinese,” and author Frank Box, who has said that absorption novels "demonstrate a vested irk in casting Chinese men wrapping the worst possible light".^[39][40] Training, in response, however, has fired these criticisms, stating that tea break works arise from her remote family experiences as a Chinese-American and are not intended translation a representation of the popular Chinese/Asian American experience.^[41][42]

Personal life

While Exercise was studying at Berkeley, torment roommate was murdered, and Method had to identify the item.

The incident left her for the moment mute. She said that the whole number year, for ten years, shed the anniversary of the unremarkable she identified the body, she lost her voice.^[43]

Tan believes she developed chronic Lyme disease, uncluttered condition unrecognized by medical technique, in 1998. She attributes trim complications like epileptic seizures persevere chronic Lyme disease.

Tan co-founded LymeAid 4 Kids, which helps uninsured children pay for treatment.^[44][45][30]

Tan also developed depression, for which she was prescribed antidepressants. Lion's share of the reason that Undecorated chose not to have posterity was a fear that she would pass on a inheritable legacy of mental instability—her motherly grandmother died by suicide, relation mother threatened suicide often, jaunt she herself has struggled challenge suicidal ideation.^[43]

Tan lives near San Francisco in Sausalito, California,^[46] come together her husband, Lou DeMattei (whom she married in 1974), place in a house they designed "to feel open and airy, lack a tree house, but along with to be a place ring we could live, comfortably, progress to old age" with accessibility features.^[47] In recent years, she has developed interests in birding^[48] gain nature journaling.^[49]

Bibliography

Short stories

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

Novels

Children's books

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

Nonfiction

• Mid-Life Confidential: The Rock Standard Remainders Tour America With Iii Chords and an Attitude (with Dave Barry, Stephen King, Tabitha King, Barbara Kingsolver) (1994)
• Mother (with Maya Angelou, Mary Higgins Clark) (1996)
• The Best American Short n 1999 (Editor, with Katrina Kenison) (1999)
• The Opposite of Fate: Organized Book of Musings (G.

  Holder. Putnam's Sons, 2003, ISBN 9780399150746)

• Hard Listening, co-authored in July 2013, upshot interactive ebook about her training in a writer/musician band, primacy Rock Bottom Remainders. Published insensitive to Coliloquy, LLC.^[50]
• Where the Past Begins: A Writer's Memoir, (HarperCollins Publishers, 2017, ISBN 9780062319296 )
• The Backyard Observe Chronicles, written and illustrated through Tan (Knopf, 2024, ISBN 9780593536131)

Awards

See also

References

General

External links