Shawn K. Wong | |
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| Born | (1949-08-11)August 11, 1949 (age 76) |
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| Notable works | Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian-American Writers |
Shawn K. Wong is aChinese American author and scholar. He has served as the Professor of English, Director of the University Honors Program (2003–06), Chair of the Department of English (1997–2002), and Director of the Creative Writing Program (1995–97) at theUniversity of Washington, where he has been on the faculty since 1984 and teaches courses coveringcritical theory,Asian American studies, which he is considered a pioneer in, and fiction writing. Wong received his undergraduate degree in English at theUniversity of California Berkeley (1971)[1] and a master's degree in Creative Writing atSan Francisco State University (1974).[1]
Wong's first novel,Homebase, published by Reed and Cannon (1979),[2] won thePacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award[3] and the 15th Annual Governor's Writers Day Award of Washington.[3] His second novel,American Knees, first published bySimon & Schuster in 1996,[4] was adapted into an independent feature film entitledAmericanese (2010),[5] written and directed byEric Byler[6] and produced byLisa Onodera.[6] The book was re-issued in 2005 byUniversity of Washington Press.
Wong explained in an interview the title "American Knees": "When I was a child, kids used to come up to me and ask, 'What are you: Chinese, Japanese or Americanese?", while some asked if I was "Chinese, Japanese or dirty knees?"[6]
"I never really knew what that meant when I was a kid," Wong says, "but I knew I didn't like it."[7]
Wong is also co-editor of six multicultural literary anthologies including the pioneering anthologyAiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian-American Writers[8] (reprinted in four different editions),Literary Mosaic: Asian American and Asian Diasporas, Cultures, Identities, Representations, andThe Big Aiiieeeee! He is co-editor ofBefore Columbus Foundation Fiction/Poetry Anthology: Selections from the American Book Awards, 1980-1990 – two volumes of contemporary American multicultural poetry and fiction.[9]
Wong has been awarded aNational Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship[6] and aRockefeller Foundation residency in Italy.[6] He was featured in the 1997PBS documentaryShattering the Silences,[10] and in theBill Moyers' PBS documentaryBecoming American: The Chinese Experience, in 2003.[11] He is also featured in the 2005 documentaryWhat's Wrong With Frank Chin?[12]
Wong also serves as consulting and contributing editor forTranstext(e)s-Transcultures: A Journal of Global Cultural Studies.
Shawn Wong specializes in Creative Writing andAsian American studies.[1] Since 1972, he has taught at several colleges and universities, includingMills College at Northeastern University,University of California at Santa Cruz, San Francisco State University, and the University of Washington. He has also taught at theUniversity of Tübingen (Germany),Jean Moulin University (Lyon), and at the University of Washington Rome Center (Italy).
He is on the faculty of the Red Badge Project,[13] which teaches storytelling to veterans suffering from PTSD, depression, or anxiety disorders.
