15 Facts About Hisaye Yamamoto

Hisaye Yamamoto was an American author known for the short story collection Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories, first published in 1988.

Hisaye Yamamoto's work confronts issues of the Japanese immigrant experience in America, the disconnect between first and second-generation immigrants, as well as the difficult role of women in society.

Hisaye Yamamoto's generation, the Nisei, were often in perpetual motion, born into the nomadic existences imposed upon their parents by the California Alien Land Law.

Hisaye Yamamoto developed a strong passion for reading and writing from a young age, leading to the early publication of her work in Japanese-American newspapers.

Hisaye Yamamoto was twenty years old when her family was placed in the internment camp in Poston, Arizona.

Hisaye Yamamoto had two brothers, one of whom was killed in combat fighting for the United States army during her family's internment.

Hisaye Yamamoto started by publishing her first work of fiction, Death Rides the Rails to Poston, a mystery that was later added to Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories, followed shortly thereafter by a much shorter piece entitled Surely I Must be Dreaming.

Hisaye Yamamoto briefly left the camp to work in Springfield, Massachusetts, but returned when her brother died while fighting with the US Army's 442nd Regimental Combat Team in Italy.

Hisaye Yamamoto's work, influenced by her experiences at the Los Angeles Tribune, explored racial dynamics that resonated with a diverse readership beyond the Japanese-American community.

Hisaye Yamamoto, who had been in poor health since a stroke in 2010, died in 2011 in her sleep at her home in northeast Los Angeles at the age of 89.

Hisaye Yamamoto's stories, arranged chronologically, explore themes such as generational conflict, cultural assimilation, and racial discrimination among Issei immigrants and their Nisei children.

Ambiguous interactions between ethnic communities in America: Hisaye Yamamoto depicts America as a complex network of different ethnicities, made even more complicated by the prejudices and hierarchies created by each ethnic group.

Hisaye Yamamoto's stories depict interactions between Japanese immigrants and diverse ethnic groups, including Anglo-Americans, Mexicans, Chinese, Filipinos, African-Americans, and Indigenous peoples of Alaska.

Sometimes Hisaye Yamamoto creates surprising twists based on unexpected moments of empathy or misunderstanding between two groups.

Hisaye Yamamoto received acclaim for her work almost from the very beginning of her career.