Amy Tan

Amy Tan
Amy Tan
Occupation	Writer
Nationality	American
Genre	novel
Website
http://www.amytan.net

Amy Tan (Chinese: 譚恩美; pinyin: Tán Enmei) (born February 19, 1952) is a Chinese American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships. In 1993, Tan's adaptation of her most popular fiction work, The Joy Luck Club, became a commercially successful film.

Tan has written several other books, including The Kitchen God's Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, and The Bonesetter's Daughter, and a collection of non-fiction essays entitled The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings. Her most recent book, Saving Fish From Drowning, explores the tribulations experienced by a group of people who disappear while on an art expedition in the jungles of Burma. In addition, Tan has written two children's books: The Moon Lady (1992) and Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat (1994), which was turned into an animated series airing on PBS. She has also appeared on PBS in a short spot encouraging children to write.

She resides in Sausalito, California with her husband, Louis DeMattei, a lawyer who she met on a blind date and married in 1974.

She is a member of the Rock Bottom Remainders, a rock band consisting of published writers, including Barbara Kingsolver, Matt Groening, Dave Barry and Stephen King, among others.

Early life

Both of Tan's parents emigrated from China. Her father, John Tan, was an electrical engineer and Baptist minister who came to the United States during the Chinese Civil War. Her mother, Daisy Tan, was forced to leave her daughters from a previous marriage behind in Shanghai. This incident provided the basis for The Kitchen God's Wife.

Tan had two brothers, the older of which died of a brain tumor, an illness which also claimed her father.

Tan received her bachelor's and master's degrees in English and linguistics from San José State University, and later did doctoral linguistics studies at UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley.

Bibliography

Novels

• The Joy Luck Club (1989)
• The Kitchen God's Wife (1991)
• The Hundred Secret Senses (1995)
• The Bonesetter's Daughter (2001)
• Saving Fish from Drowning (2005)

Children's books

• The Moon Lady, illustrated by Gretchen Schields (1992)
• Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat, illustrated by Gretchen Schields (1994)

Nonfiction

• The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings (2003)

As editor or contributor

• Mid-Life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America With Three Cords 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 Stories 1999 (Editor, with Katrina Kenison) (1999)

Awards

• Finalist National Book Award
• Finalist National Book Critics Circle Award
• Finalist Los Angeles Times Fiction Prize
• Bay Area Book Reviewers Award
• Commonwealth Gold Award
• American Library Association's Notable Books
• American Library Association's Best Book for Young Adults
• Selected for the National Endowment for the Arts' Big Read
• New York Times Notable Book
• Booklist Editors Choice
• Finalist for the Orange Prize
• Nominated for the Orange Prize
• Nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
• Audie Award: Best Non-fiction, Abridged
• Emmy Award
• Parents' Choice Award, Best Television Program for Children
• Shortlisted British Academy of Film and Television Arts award, best screenplay adaptation
• Shortlisted WGA Award, best screenplay adaptation
• Grammy Award

Quotes

• "I think books were my salvation, they saved me from being miserable."
• "You see what power is – holding someone else's fear in your hand and showing it to them"
• "I'm sitting in the $4.95 bookstore bleachers along with Shakespeare, Conrad and Joyce," she said. "I acknowledge that there is a fundamental difference that separates us. I am a contemporary author and they are not. And since I'm not dead yet, I can talk back." (The Opposite of Fate 10)

External links

• Amy Tan Home Page

See also

• Chinese American literature

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