Cynthia Kadohata
Cynthia Kadohata, born on July 2, 1956, in Chicago, Illinois, is a celebrated Japanese American author known for her poignant narratives that explore the Japanese-American experience, particularly during and after World War II. Drawing heavily from her family's history—her parents were among those uprooted during the war—Kadohata’s writing reflects deep cultural insights and personal observations of landscape and community. Initially aspiring to be a journalist, a life-altering car accident shifted her focus to fiction, revealing to her the emotional truths that storytelling can convey.
Her debut novel, "The Floating World," published in 1989, garnered critical acclaim for its authentic depiction of a Japanese American migrant family. Kadohata’s subsequent works, including "In the Heart of the Valley of Love" and her acclaimed children's literature, have received numerous awards, such as the Newbery Medal for "Kira-Kira." Over the years, she has published a variety of successful children's books, continuing to gain recognition for her ability to weave themes of resilience and multiculturalism into her stories. Kadohata remains a significant voice in contemporary literature, engaging young readers and adults alike with her rich storytelling.
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Subject Terms
Cynthia Kadohata
- Born: July 2, 1956
- Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
Author Profile
Author Cynthia Lynn Kadohata is an award-winning Japanese American author who has written fictional narratives about the Japanese-American experience, particularly during World War II, for both adults and children, drawing inspiration from her own families experiences.
Kadhohata aspired to be a journalist after she graduated from college, believing that only nonfiction can express the truth. Her parents, like other Japanese Americans, were uprooted during World War II and traveled extensively across the country in search of work. Kadohata’s keen observation of landscape and people during these long drives prepared her for her later career.
Kadohata changed her plans for the future after she was seriously injured in an automobile accident. While recuperating, she read extensively and discovered the power of fiction and its ability to say what could not be said otherwise. She tried her hand at writing short stories, and after several rejections, one of her stories was accepted by the New Yorker in 1986. She felt encouraged to devote her life to writing fiction.
Kadohata’s two attempts at obtaining formal instruction in creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh and Columbia University were of little use to her. She found her own observations and travels to be more useful than any theoretical discussions. In her first novel, The Floating World (1989), Kadohata drew upon her own experiences of moving with her family from various cities on the Pacific coast to Arkansas. The protagonist and narrator, Olivia Osaka, is a third-generation Japanese American whose years of growing up are typical of all adolescents. The novel was well received and commended for its portrayal of a Japanese American migrant family. The success of the novel enabled her to win awards from the Whiting Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
In the Heart of the Valley of Love (1992), Kadohata’s second novel, depicts Los Angeles in the 1950s. Her picture of grim and bleak life in the years to come is based on the implications of the changing demographics in California in the 1990s. Living in a period when a widening chasm between the classes breeds discontent and lawlessness, the protagonist, Francie, a young woman of Asian-African American ancestry, undergoes traumatic experiences. She loses her parents and then her surrogate parents but eventually finds love, hope, and the possibility of renewal. She expresses Kadohata’s optimism about the survival of a multicultural society in the future.
Kadohata soon turned to children's literature, and her first children's novel, Kira-Kira, won the coveted Newbery Medal in 2005. She has continued to have great success in this genre, winning a PEN USA award in children's literature for Weedflower (2006), a California Young Readers medal for Cracker! The Best Dog in Vietnam (2007), and a National Book Award for Young People's Literature for The Thing about Luck (2013). She continued to write children's literature in the 2010s and 2020s, publishing Checked (2018), A Place to Belong (2019), and Saucy (2020).
Bibliography
"About." Cynthia Kadohata, www.cynthiakadohata.com/about/. Accessed 6 Oct. 2024.
Cha, Frank. "Migrating to the 'Broiler Belt': Japanese American Labor and the Jim Crow South in Cynthia Kadohata's Kira-Kira." Mississippi Quarterly, vol. 65, no. 1, 2012, pp. 103–20.
Kadohata, Cynthia. “Cynthia Kadohata.” Interview by Lisa See. Publishers Weekly, 3 Aug. 1992, pp. 48-49.
Kakutani, Michiko. “Growing Up Rootless in an Immigrant Family.” Review of The Floating World, by Cynthia Kadohata. New York Times, 30 June 1989, www.nytimes.com/1989/06/30/books/books-of-the-times-growing-up-rootless-in-an-immigrant-family.html. Accessed 6 Oct. 2024.
Kakutani, Michiko. “Past Imperfect, and Future Even Worse.” Review of In the Heart of the Valley of Love, by Cynthia Kadohata. New York Times, 28 July 1992, www.nytimes.com/1992/07/28/books/books-of-the-times-past-imperfect-and-future-even-worse.html. Accessed 6 Oct. 2024.
Lai, Paul. "Militarized Friendship Narratives: Enemy Aliens and Indigenous Outsiders in Cynthia Kadohata's Weedflower." College Literature, vol. 41, no. 1, 2014, pp. 66–89, doi.org/10.1353/lit.2014.0000. Accessed 6 Oct. 2024.
Pearlman, Mickey, editor. Listen to Their Voices: Twenty Interviews with Women Who Write. Norton, 1993.