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Karen Tei Yamashita received the 2021 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation on November 17.
“A daring and groundbreaking writer, Yamashita’s deeply creative work has had a lasting impact on our literary landscape,†Foundation President David Steinberger said in a statement.
The other honorary award, the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, went to NPR author-librarian-commentator Nancy Pearl.
Yamashita and Pearl were among the winners who spoke of a precarious gift, worrying about the surge in efforts to censor books in schools and libraries and the violent attacks on racial minorities.
In her acceptance speech, Yamashita said the award was particularly important to her community, given that the past year has been plagued by anti-Asian violence and hatred.
“Asian-American literature is, at its core, a literature of politics and resistance,†Yamashita said.
Yamashita has written eight books, all published by Minneapolis-based Coffee House Press. His works include a book of short stories about being Japanese-American, “Sansei and Sensibility†(2020), “Through the Arc of the Rain Forest†(1990), a novel about a Japanese expatriate living in Brazil. in the midst of an environmental crisis. , and “Brazil-Maru†(1992), which focused on the Brazilian Japanese community. Yamshita has lived in Brazil for many years.
His other books include “Tropique d’Orange” (1997). “Circle K Cycles” (2001), “Anime Wong: Fictions of Performance” (2014), edited with an afterword by Stephen Hong Sohn, and “Letters to Memory” (2017).
“I am here because Coffee House imagined the long distance of a writer’s journey, [they] know that books take a long time to read and share, â€Yamashita said, adding that the publisher always kept their books in print, which gave their readership time to grow.
Yamashita’s “I Hotel†(2010), a novel set in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the 1960s and 1970s, was a finalist for the National Book Award. It won the California Book Award 2011 and was a finalist for the Asian American Literary Award for Fiction in 2011. Inspired by the movement to prevent the deportation of Asian seniors from the International Hotel, the book featured students, laborers , artists, revolutionaries and provocateurs caught in a whirlwind of politics and passion, conflicting ideologies and personal turmoil. A 10e– anniversary edition was recently released.
“Karen Tei Yamashita is such a legend,†tweeted author Jean Chen Ho (“Fiona and Janeâ€). “When I read ‘I Hotel’ in undergrad, I remember just reorganizing my whole brain about what and what a novel can do.”
Yamashita is Professor Emeritus at UC Santa Cruz, where she researched Japanese immigration to Brazil and Asian American literature.
She attended Carleton College in Minnesota and also studied at Waseda University in Tokyo. She was born in Oakland and raised in Los Angeles. Both of her parents were incarcerated in Topaz, Utah during World War II.
In addition to a bronze medal, the Lifetime Achievement Award is endowed with $ 10,000.
Yamashita is 34e recipient of the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, which was established in 1988 to recognize the literary work of a lifetime. Previous recipients include Walter Mosley, Edmund White, Isabel Allende, Annie Proulx, Robert A. Caro, John Ashbery, Judy Blume, Don DeLillo, Joan Didion, EL Doctorow, Maxine Hong Kingston, Stephen King, Ursula K. Le Guin, Elmore Leonard, Norman Mailer, Toni Morrison and Adrienne Rich.
Nominations for the medal are made by past National Book Award winners, finalists, judges and other writers and literary professionals from across the country. The final selection is made by the Board of Trustees of the National Book Foundation.
Competitive categories
Jason Mott’s “Hell of a Book,” a surreal meta-narrative about an author’s promotional tour and his haunted past and present, won the National Book Award for Fiction – a twist Mott didn’t have imagined for himself.
“Hell of a Book” is a satirical version of a black writer’s adventures on the road for a promotional tour – Mott himself has had his fair share of experiences speaking of earlier works such as his first novel “The Returned “- and a story of racial violence and identity, drawing on recent headlines and the author’s childhood.
“I would like to dedicate this award to all the other crazy kids, to all the strangers, the weirdos, the bullies, those so weird that they had no choice but to be misunderstood by the world and those around them. “, Mott, 43 years old. , said in his acceptance speech.
He also quoted “those who, despite this, refuse to go beyond their imagination, refuse to give up their dreams, refuse to deny, to diminish their identity, or their truths, or their loves – unlike so many others”.
“Everything She Wore: The Trip of Ashley’s Bag, A Keepsake of the Black Family†by Tiya Miles was the winner for the non-fiction.
Malinda Lo’s “Last Night at the Telegraph Club†– a same-sex and cross-cultural love story set in the 1950s – won the Children’s Literature Award.
The poetry prize went to “Floaters†by MartÃn Espada and the best translation to “Winter in Sokcho†by Elisa Shua Dusapin, translated from French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins.
The winners of the competitive categories each receive $ 10,000.
