Gary Pak
Gary Pak (born 1952) is a writer, editor and professor of English at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.[1] Pak has been noted as one of the most important Asian Hawaiian writers.[2]
Biography[edit]
Gary Pak was born and raised in Hawaii. Pak graduated from Boston University with a BA and from University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa with an MA and a PhD. Growing up in Hawaii, Pak said his first language is Pidgin English. "My culture is from Hawaii; my parents’ and grandparents’ generations helped create that culture", he said during an interview with the Magazine of the University of Hawaii.[3]
Some of Pak's novels are based on the true stories from his family. His grandparents fled from Korea during World War II and came to the United States; in 1905, his grandmother worked on a sugarcane plantation at Hawaii. His novel A Ricepaper Airplane is based on an incident related with his mum in the setting of a sugarcane plantation. In his short story collection Language of the Geckos and Other Stories, Pak's memorable portraits of Hawai'i's Korean Americans, Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, and Native Hawaiians increases cross-cultural understanding of Hawaiian life and culture.
Pak was also the producer, play writer and editor of the Olelo Community TV series, Plantation Children: 2nd-generation Koreans in Hawai'i.
Pak was a recipient of Fulbright Fellow.
Selected works[edit]
Short stories[edit]
- "Hae Soon’s Song", appeared in New Press’ anthology
- "Crossing Into America: The New Literature of Immigration"
Books[edit]
- The Watcher of Waipuna, Bamboo Ridge Press, 1992[4]
- A Ricepaper Airplane, University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1998[5]
- Children of a Fireland, University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2004
- Language of the Geckos and Other Stories, University of Washington Press, 2005[6]
Plays[edit]
- Beyond the Falls (children's play)
- Plantation Children: 2nd-generation Koreans in Hawaii (TV series)
Selected awards[edit]
- 1992 Elliot Cades Award for The Watcher of Waipuna
- 2004 Honorable Mention in the Association for Asian American Studies' Book Award in Prose and Poetry for Children of a Fireland[7]
References[edit]
- ^ Pak's faculty profile
- ^ Gary Pak: Language of the Geckos and Other Stories
- ^ Local and Korean roots nourish UH writer Gary Pak
- ^ amazon book: The Watcher of Waipuna
- ^ amazon book: A Ricepaper Airplane
- ^ Language of the Geckos: And Other Stories (The Scott and Laurie Oki Series in Asian American Studies)
- ^ Oh, Seiwoong (2007). Encyclopedia of Asian-American literature. New York: Facts On File. p. 237. ISBN 978-0816060863.
External links[edit]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
- 1952 births
- Living people
- Novelists from Hawaii
- American writers of Korean descent
- American educators
- American academics of English literature
- American academics of Korean descent
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni
- Boston University alumni
- American short story writers
- American novelists of Asian descent
- American short story writers of Asian descent
- American male novelists
- American male short story writers
- American male non-fiction writers
- Fulbright alumni
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa faculty