Amy Tan
Contemporary American woman writer, whose works explore mother-daughter relationships and what it means to grow up as a first generation Asian American. Her most popular fiction work,
The Joy Luck Club, became a blockbuster movie.
Amy Tan (
Chinese: 譚恩美;
pinyin: Tán 'nměi), an
American writer, was born
February 19,
1952 in
Oakland, California several years after her parents emigrated to the
U.S. from
China. Citing her mother as "her inspiration," Tan explores the clash of traditional
Chinese and
American cultures in much of her work.
Tan is best known for her novel
The Joy Luck Club, which later became a feature film. (Tan authored the screenplay.) Critics say that the book The Joy Luck Club is a novel but to Tan it is a collection of short stories. She has written several other books, including
The Kitchen God's Wife,
The Hundred Secret Senses and
The Bonesetter's Daughter, and a collection of non-fiction essays entitled
The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings. Her newest book
Saving Fish From Drowning, explores the tribulations experienced by a group of people who disappear while on an art expedition into the jungles of Burma. In addition, she has written two children's books
The Moon Lady (1992) and
The Chinese Siamese Cat (1994). She has appeared in a short spot on
PBS encouraging children to write.
Born in
Oakland, California to Chinese immigrants John (a
Baptist minister) and Daisy (a
Shanghai nurse), Tan was fourteen when her father and elder brother died of
brain tumours. With her mother and younger brother Peter, Tan moved to
Montreux,
Switzerland shortly afterward. She received a
master's degree in
linguistics at
San José State University and her first job was as a children's
speech therapist.
Tan's mother Daisy witnessed her mother committing
suicide. Tan believed that her grandmother, her mother and herself all suffered from
depression. Tan currently takes
Zoloft to treat her bouts of serious depression [
1]. In 1985, after her
psychiatrist fell asleep for the third time during one of their sessions, Tan quit therapy and took up fiction writing instead.
Since turning 40, Tan has been a member of the literary
garage band Rock Bottom Remainders with
Dave Barry and
Stephen King, who dedicated his non-fiction book
On Writing to her.
She has been married to Lou DeMattei since
1974. They live in the San Francisco Bay area with their pets.
Tan has suffered from neurological
Lyme disease since 1999, a struggle she has chronicled on her website[
2] and in interviews with the media[
3]. She has become an outspoken advocate on behalf of patients with the disease.
*
The Joy Luck Club, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1989.
**
Two Kinds*
The Kitchen God's Wife, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1991.
*
The Moon Lady, Maxwell Macmillan International, 1992.
*
Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat, Aladdin, 1994.
* The Hundred Secret Senses
, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1995.
* The Bonesetter's Daughter, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2001.
* The Opposite of Fate
, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2003.
* Saving Fish from Drowning'', G. P. Putnam's Sons Adult (October 18, 2005).
*
"Amy Tan, Ticked Off About Lyme" Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation reprint of article by J.J. McCoy,
Washington Post, August 5, 2003, retrieved March 16, 2006
* "I think books were my salvation, they saved me from being miserable."
*
Amy Tan Home Page*
Official agency page*
Anniina's Amy Tan Page* Academy of Achievement Profile http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/tan0pro-1
* Academy of Achievement Biography http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/tan0bio-1
* Academy of Achievement Interview http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/tan0int-1
* Academy of Achievement Photo Gallery http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/tan0gal-1
*
1989 audio interview by
Don Swaim
