Asian American Little Magazines 1968-1974: By Amardeep Singh

Lawson Fusao Inada (1938--): Bio and Resources

Lawson Fusao Inada is one of the most accomplished Asian American poets of the post-World War II generation. He is a third-generation (Sansei) Japanese American, whose maternal grandparents immigrated from Japan in 1907 and founded the Fresno Fish Market in 1912 (Soto, 145). During World War II, they were sent to three different concentration camps, Fresno Assembly Center, Jerome (Arkansas), and Amache (Colorado). He graduated from what is today known as California State University at Fresno, and then spent two years studying creative writing at the University of Iowa between 1960 and 1962. For many years, he taught creative writing at Southern Oregan State University; as of 2019 he is identified as an emeritus professor of English at SOU (Densho Encyclopedia). 

Inada has published several books of poetry, Before the War: Poems as they Happened (1971), Legends from Camp (1992), and Drawing the Line (1997). Before the War has been described as the first collection of poetry by an Asian American to be published by a major press (Soto 146).  Most salient to this project, Inada co-edited Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian American Literature, with Frank Chin, Jeffrey Chan, and Shawn Wong. 

Inada won the American Book Award in 1994. 

Poems by Lawson Inada Referenced on this Site: 

Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian-American Writers (1974)
Aion 1.1 (1970)
Aion 1.2 (1971)
Roots: An Asian American Reader (1971)

Links on Lawson Inada: 

Entry on Lawson Fusao Inada (Wikipedia)
Entry on Lawson Fusao Inada (Densho Encyclopedia)
Entry on Lawson Inada (Poetry Foundation)

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