Born in the US to immigrant
parents from China, Amy Tan rejected her mother’s expectations
that she become a doctor and concert pianist. She chose to write
fiction instead. Her novels are The
Joy Luck Club, The
Kitchen God's Wife, The
Hundred Secret Senses, The
Bonesetter's Daughter, and Saving
Fish from Drowning, all New York Times bestsellers
and the recipient of various awards. She is also the author
of a memoir, The
Opposite of Fate, two children’s books, The
Moon Lady and Sagwa,
The Chinese Siamese Cat, and numerous articles for magazines,
including The New Yorker, Harper’s Bazaar,
and National Geographic. Her work has been translated
into 35 languages, from Spanish, French, and Finnish to Chinese,
Arabic, and Hebrew.
Ms Tan served as Co-producer
and Co-screenwriter with Ron Bass for the film adaptation of
The
Joy Luck Club. She was the Creative Consultant for Sagwa,
the Emmy-nominated PBS television series for children, which
has aired worldwide, including in the UK, Latin America, Hong
Kong, China, Taiwan, and Singapore. Her story in the New
Yorker, “Immortal Heart,” was performed on stages
throughout the US and in France. Her essays and stories are
found in hundreds of anthologies and textbooks, and they are
assigned as “required reading” in many high schools
and universities. She appeared as herself in the animated series
“The Simpsons.” She performed as narrator with the
San Francisco Symphony and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra playing
an original score for “Sagwa” by composer Nathan
Wang.
Ms Tan has lectured internationally
at universities, including Stanford, Oxford, Jagellonium, Beijing,
and Georgetown both in Washington DC and Doha, Qatar. The National
Endowment for the Arts chose The
Joy Luck Club for its 2007 “Big Read” program.
Ms Tan also serves as the Literary Editor for the Los Angeles
Times magazine, West.
Recently, Ms. Tan wrote
the libretto for The
Bonesetter’s Daughter, which will have its world
premiere in September 2008 with the San Francisco Opera. The
book Fate!
Luck! Chance! Amy Tan, Stewart Wallace, and the Making of The
Bonsetter’s Daughter, by Ken Smith, was published
by Chronicle Books in August 2008. Her other musical work for
the stage is limited to serving as lead rhythm dominatrix, backup
singer, and second tambourine with the literary garage band,
the Rock Bottom Remainders, whose members include Stephen King,
Dave Barry, and Scott Turow. In spite of their dubious talent,
their yearly gigs have managed to raise over a million dollars
for literacy programs.
•••
“...no one will
deny the pleasure of Tan's seductive prose and the skill with
which she unfolds...many-layered narrative.”
— Publishers
Weekly
“...the novel’s
depth of feeling...resonates and lingers. Tan writes with real
soul.”
— The Washington
Post Book World on The Bonesetter’s Daughter
“ Splendid...
What marvelous characters she gives us... Reading [Amy Tan]
is like peering into a carved ivory ball that contains numerous
smaller balls, each revealing a different design but all worked
from a single source.”
