Lannan Readings & Conversations

Lois-Ann Yamanaka

with Jessica Hagedorn
Wednesday February 7 2001

Reading, February 07, 2001
Conversation, February 07, 2001

Jessica Hagedorn Lois-Ann Yamanaka was born on the island of Moloka'i in Hawaii. She has written three novels, Heads by Harry; Blu's Hanging; and Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers, and a collection of poetry; Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre. Ms. Yamanaka, who writes in Hawaiian Creole English, a language stigmatized by its association with the immigrant class, has said, "I am devoted to telling stories the way I have experienced them—cultural identity and linguistic identity being skin and flesh to my body." Ms. Yamanaka received a Lannan Literary Award in 1998.

Lois-Ann Yamanaka Bio and Cross Links


Jessica Hagedorn Jessica Hagedorn is the author of two collections of poetry, Dangerous Music and Pet Food and Tropical Apparitions and two novels, Dogeaters and The Gangster of Love. She is also the editor of Charlie Chan is Dead: An Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Fiction.

Jessica Hagedorn Bio and Cross Links