Search for:
ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTIONS > Written Word > East Asian
Joy Kogawa
| She was born in Vancouver in 1935. Her literary and community
accomplishments have been widely recognized. Joy is a member of
the Order of Canada (1986) and the Order of British Columbia (2006).
She received the National Association of Japanese Canadians National
Award in 2001, and 6 November 2004 was proclaimed Joy Kogawa Day
in Vancouver.
Her poetry collections include:
The Splintered Moon (University of New Brunswick, 1967); A Choice
of Dreams (McClelland and Stewart, 1974, out of print); Jericho
Road (McClelland and Stewart, 1977); Woman in the Woods (Mosaic,
1985); A Song of Lilith (Polestar, an imprint of Raincoast, 2000);
and A Garden of Anchors, Selected Poems (Mosaic, 2003).
Her first novel, Obasan (first
printed by Lester and Orpen Dennys, Canada, 1981) has received
several awards. These include: First Novel Award, Books in Canada;
Book of the Year Award, Canadian Authors Association; Best Paperback
Fiction Award, Periodical Distributors of Canada; The American
Book Award, Before Columbus Foundation; and Notable Book, American
Library Association.
Obasan was also chosen for One
Book One Community, Medicine Hat, Alberta in 2004 and for One
Book One Vancouver in 2005. Obasan Cherry Tree Day was celebrated
in Vancouver on 1 November 2005.
Her other novels include: Itsuka
(first published by Viking, Canada, 1992, out of press); The Rain
Ascends (first published by Knopf Canada, 1995); Emily Kato (Itsuka
revisited) (novel, Penguin Canada, 2005).
Her children's and young adult
fiction titles include Naomi's Road (1986), which was commissioned
as an opera by the Vancouver Opera in 2005. Naomi no Michi (young
adult fiction, Shogakkan, Japan) and Naomi's Tree (children's
fiction, Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2008) are her two other titles
in this genre.
The mother of two is a member
of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association,
Writers' Union of Canada, Pen International and is past President
of the Toronto Dollar Community Projects Inc
Her honours also include:
- Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa,
University of Lethbridge (1991)
- Fellow of Ryerson Polytechnical
University (1991)
- Doctor of Letters, Honoris
Causa, University of Guelph (1992)
- Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa,
Simon Fraser University (1993)
- Urban Alliance Race Relations
award (1994)
- Grace MacInnis Visiting Scholar
award (1995)
- Doctor of Divinity, Honoris
Causa, Knox College, University of Toronto (1999)
- Lifetime Achievement Award,
Association of Asian American Studies (2001)
- Doctor of Letters, Honoris
Causa, University of British Columbia (2001)
- Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa,
Queen's University (2003)
- Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa,
University of Windsor (2003)
- George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement
Award (2008)
- B.C. Bookworld and Vancouver
Public Library Plaque (2008)
- Author Achievement Day Proclamation
(25 April 2008)
Two Poems by Joy Kogawa
as apology
does
(PDF file - 5 KB download)
Then let not this
(PDF file - 3 KB download)
<<
top
The project was made
possible with the support of the
Department
of Canadian Heritage through the Canadian Culture Online Strategy
The Acrobat Reader is
available free from 