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Lawson Fusao Inada
Lawson Fusao Inada was born in 1938 in Fresno, California,
where he lived until the outbreak of World War II forced his family into
Japanese internment camps in Fresno, Arkansas, and Colorado. The experience
was a powerful one for Inada, and much of his writing has explored the complex
American identity he forged there.
After the war, Inada went back to school and discovered music. He played
bass while studying at Fresno State University and developed a fascination
with the rhythms of jazz. This interest is evident in his poetry, which
often uses the sophisticated rhythms and musical structures of this truly
American musical form. Inada went on to study at the University of Iowa's
writing program, and has taught at Southern Oregon State College since 1966.
According to poet Shawn Wong, Inada's rise to preeminence among Asian American
poets happened almost by accident. Wong and two other aspiring Asian American
writers -- Frank Chin and Jeffrey Paul Chan -- had become friendly during
the 1960s, and they were looking for other Asian American poets with whom
to share ideas. They found Inada. "In a bookstore," remembers
Wong, "I saw an anthology of Fresno poets [Down at the Santa Fe
Depot] with a picture of them on the cover. And in the picture I could
see a Japanese guy. I called him up, and it was Lawson Inada. I said, 'You're
a Japanese poet? We want to meet you.' We all met at a party with Alex Haley,
Richard Brautigan, Ishmael
Reed, and we talked about how, before we knew we were going to be writers,
we were first going to be doctors and engineers like our parents wanted
us to be."
In 1971, Inada's debut collection of poems, Before the War, became
the first volume of poetry from an Asian American writer to be published
by a top New York publisher. In 1983, Inada helped to edit Aiiieeeee!:
An Anthology of Asian American Writers. It was the first anthology of
Asian American writing, and was co-edited by Wong, Chan, and Chin. The group
-- sometimes referred to as "The Gang of Four" -- has been credited with
pioneering the field of Asian American literature; they are known both for
mentoring new Asian American poets and for reviving work by earlier writers
like Toshio Mori and John Okada.
Inada has published a number of books of poetry and has been recognized
as one of the most significant American voices to speak about the experience
of the Japanese internment camps. He has won numerous fellowships from the
National Endowment for the Arts, was named Oregon State Poet of the Year
in 1991, and won the American Book Award for Legends From Camp in
1994.
Works by the Author
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Work:
Legends From Camp