Edit filter log

'{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] --> | name = Yoshiko Uchida | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1921|11|24|mf=y}} | birth_place = [[Alameda, California]] [[United States]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1992|06|21|1921|11|24}} | death_place = [[Berkeley, California]] [[United States]]<ref name=nytimes>{{citation |title= Yoshiko Uchida, 70, A Children's Author | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 24, 1992 |url=http://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/24/obituaries/yoshiko-uchida-70-a-children-s-author.html}}</ref> | occupation = short story writer, editor, Novelist, children's book author | movement = Folk Art Movement | genre = [[fiction]], [[Folklore|folktales]] | notable works = ''[[The Invisible Thread]]''<br />''Journey to Topaz''<br />''Picture Bride'' | influences = | influenced = | spouse = | relatives = }} '''Yoshiko Uchida''' (November 24, 1921 – June 21, 1992) was a [[Japanese American]] [[writer]]. ==Life== Yoshiko Uchida was the daughter of [[Japanese people|Japanese]] immigrants Takashi and Iku Uchida. Her father came to the United States from Japan in 1903 and worked for the [[San Francisco]] offices of [[Mitsui|Mitsui and Company]]. Yoshiko and her sister Keiko were both ''[[nisei]]'', or second-generation Japanese Americans, born in the United States. Yoshiko Uchida graduated early from high school and enrolled at [[University of California, Berkeley]] at sixteen. The Uchidas were living in [[Berkeley, California]] and Yoshiko was in her senior year at U.C. Berkeley when the Japanese attacked the naval base at [[Pearl Harbor]] in 1941. Soon after, President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] ordered all Japanese Americans on the west coast to be rounded up and [[Japanese internment in the United States|imprisoned in internment camps]]. Thousands of Japanese and Japanese Americans, regardless of their U.S. citizenship, lost their homes, property, jobs, [[civil liberties]] and human dignity. The Uchidas were not spared. Takashi was questioned by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] and he and his family, including Yoshiko, were interned for three years, first at [[The Shops at Tanforan#Racetrack|Tanforan Racetrack]] in California and then in [[Topaz War Relocation Center|Topaz, Utah]]. In the camps, Yoshiko taught school and had the chance to view not only the injustices which the Americans were perpetrating, but the varying reactions of Japanese Americans towards their ill-treatment. In 1943 Uchida was accepted to graduate school at [[Smith College]] in Massachusetts and allowed to leave the camp, but her years there left a deep impression. Her 1971 novel ''Journey to Topaz'' is fiction but closely follows her own experiences, and many of her other books deal with issues of [[ethnicity]], [[citizenship]], identity, and cross-cultural relationships. Over the course of her career Uchida published more than thirty books, including [[nonfiction]] for adults and [[children's literature|fiction]] for children and teenagers. She died in 1992. Uchida became widely known for her 1982 [[autobiography]] ''Desert Exile'', one of several important autobiographical works by Japanese Americans who were interned that portray internment as a pivotal moment in the formation of the author's [[Identity (social science)|personal]] and [[cultural identity|cultural]] identities. She is also known for her children's novels, having been praised as "almost single-handedly creating a body of Japanese American literature for children, where none existed before.".<ref>''[http://www.bookrags.com/biography/yoshiko-uchida Encyclopedia of World Biography]'', accessed 7 Nov 2006</ref> In addition to ''Journey to Topaz'', many of her other novels including ''Picture Bride'', ''A Jar of Dreams'' and ''The Bracelet'' deal with Japanese American impressions of major historical events including [[World War I]], the [[Great Depression]], and [[World War II]], and the [[racism]] endured by Japanese Americans during these years. :"I try to stress the positive aspects of life that I want children to value and cherish. I hope they can be caring human beings who don't think in terms of labels--foreigners or Asians or whatever--but think of people as human beings. If that comes across, then I've accomplished my purpose."<ref name="Grice, Helena 2005">Grice, Helena. "Yoshiko Uchida" in ''Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 312: Asian American Writers''. Gale, 2005.</ref> ==Bibliography== This is a partial list of Uchida's published work. *''The Terrible Leak'' *''The Dancing Kettle and Other Japanese Folk Tales'' (1949) *''New Friends for Susan'' (1951) *''The Magic Listening Cap: More Folk Tales from Japan'' (1955) *''The Full Circle'' (1957) *''Takao and Grandfather's Sword'' (1958) *''The Promised Year'' (1959) *''Mik and the Prowler'' (1960) *''Rokubei and the Thousand Rice Bowls'' (1962) *''The Forever Christmas Tree'' (1963) *''Sumi's Prize'' (1964) *''The Sea of Gold, and Other Tales from Japan'' (1965) *''In-Between Maya'' (1967) *''Hisako's Mysteries'' (1969) *''Sumi and the Goat and the Tokyo Express'' (1969) *''Makoto, The Smallest Boy'' (1970) *''Journey to Topaz: A Story of the Japanese American Evacuation'' (1971) *''Journey Home'' (originally published as a short story.) *''Samurai of Gold Hill'' (1972) *''The Birthday Visitor'' (1975) *''The Rooster who Understood Japanese'' (1976) *''The Bracelet'' (1976) *''Jar of Dreams'' (1981) *''Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese-American Family'' (Autobiography) (1982) *''Best Bad Thing'' (1983) *''The Happiest Ending'' (1985) *''Picture Bride'' (1987) *''[[The Invisible Thread|Invisible Thread: An Autobiography]]'' (1991) *''Magic Purse'' (1993) *''Two Foolish Cats'' *''The Magic Purse'' *''The Birthday Visitor *''The Wise Old Woman'' *''Tears of Autumn'' ==Awards== *Jordan LH New Brockton honorary award *[[Ford Foundation]] research fellowship in Japan, 1952 *Children's Spring Book Festival honor award, ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'', 1955, for ''The Magic Listening Cap'' *[[American Library Association Notable Book]] citation, 1972, for ''Journey to Topaz'' *Medal for best juvenile book by a California author, Commonwealth Club of California, 1972, ''for Samurai of Gold Hill''; *Award of Merit, [[California Association of Teachers of English]], 1973 *Citation, [[Contra Costa chapter of Japanese American Citizens League]], 1976, for outstanding contribution to the cultural development of society *[[Morris S. Rosenblatt Award]], [[Utah State Historical Society]], 1981, for article, "Topaz, City of Dust" *Distinguished Service Award, [[University of Oregon]], 1981 *[[Commonwealth Club of California]] medal, 1982, for ''A Jar of Dreams'' *Award from Berkeley Chapter of Japanese American Citizens League, 1983 *''School Library Journal'', Best Book of the Year citation, 1983, for ''The Best Bad Thing'' *[[New York Public Library]], Best Book of the Year citation, 1983, for ''The Best Bad Thing'' *Best Book of 1985 citation, Bay Area Book Reviewers, 1985, for ''The Happiest Ending'' *[[Child Study Association of America]], [[Children's Book of the Year]] citation, 1985, for ''The Happiest Ending'' *San Mateo and [[San Francisco Reading Associations]], Young Authors' Hall of Fame award, 1985, for ''The Happiest Ending'' *[[Friends of Children and Literature]] award, 1987, for ''A Jar of Dreams'' *Japanese American of the Biennium award, [[Japanese American Citizens League]], 1988, for outstanding achievement ==References== <!--<nowiki> This article uses the Cite.php format. Instructions for adding footnotes: After adding an inline citation in the article, add the source inside of Reference tags. Example:<ref>Author. "[URL Story name]". Publication. Date. Date Retrieved.</ref> The reference will then add itself to the footnote section. </nowiki>--> {{Reflist|2}} ==External links== {{Portal|Literature}} *Yoshiko Uchida [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf0c600134/ papers] and [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/ft6k4007pc/ photographs] (some materials available online) at [[The Bancroft Library]] *[http://nwda-db.wsulibs.wsu.edu/findaid/ark:/80444/xv44125 Guide to the Yoshiko Uchida papers at the University of Oregon] {{Authority control|VIAF=55057278}} {{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. --> | NAME =Uchida, Yoshiko | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = Japanese-American internee and writer | DATE OF BIRTH =November 24, 1921 | PLACE OF BIRTH =[[Alameda, California]] [[United States]] | DATE OF DEATH =June 21, 1992 | PLACE OF DEATH =[[Berkeley, California]] [[United States]] }} {{DEFAULTSORT:Uchida, Yoshiko}} [[Category:1921 births]] [[Category:1992 deaths]] [[Category:People from Alameda, California]] [[Category:Japanese-American internees]] [[Category:American writers of Japanese descent]] [[Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni]] [[Category:Smith College alumni]] [[Category:Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area]] [[Category:American autobiographers]] [[Category:20th-century American novelists]] [[Category:20th-century women writers]]'