Karen Tei Yamashita (January 8, 1951) is a novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and professor, known for her works of Asian American literature and magic realism, including I Hotel (2010), which was a finalist selection for the National Book Award. This collection documents her creative life, reflecting the biographical, academic, literary, and theatrical aspects of Yamashita's professional career. The collection primarily contains material relating to correspondence, story publication, theatrical productions, and research, with some papers relating to professional activities, speaking events, and living abroad.

Karen Tei Yamashita (January 8, 1951) is a novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and professor. Although born in Oakland, California, Yamashita spent most of her childhood in Gardena, Los Angeles County, California. From 1969 to 1973, Yamashita attended Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and spent her junior year abroad at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. Yamashita graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1973 with Bachelors of Arts degrees in English and Japanese literature. A year later, contemplating a career in anthropology, Yamashita received the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship and traveled to Sao Paulo in 1975 to research Japanese immigrant communities in Brazil. Yamashita would remain in Brazil for nine years, where she met and married artist and architect Ronaldo Lopes de Oliveira, with whom she has had two children. In 1984, the family moved to Gardena, California, where Yamashita worked for twelve years as an Executive Assistant at KCET, one of the local PBS stations in Southern California. In 1997, Yamashita became a Professor at the University of California Santa Cruz, relocating to Santa Cruz after a six-month stay in Seto, Japan.

69.25 Linear Feet (108 boxes)

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