Nora Okja Keller
Nora Okja Keller , born Nora Okja Cobb (born December 22, 1965 in Seoul , Republic of Korea ) is an American author of Korean descent.
Life
Keller went to Hawai'i with her mother, a Korean Tae Im Beane, when she was three years old . Her biological father is Robert Cobb, a computer engineer of German descent. She graduated from Punahou School and then went to the University of Hawai'i , where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology and English. During her studies she got to know the term Asian American and worked with American authors such as Maxine Hong Kingston and Jade Snow Wong as well as the Canadian writer Joy Kogawa .
In the following period Keller worked as a freelance journalist for the daily newspaper Honolulu Star-Bulletin before at the California University of California, Santa Cruz the degree in literary studies as a Master of Arts made (MA) and doctorate .
Keller has been married to James Keller since 1990. The couple have two daughters. Keller works as an English teacher at her old school, the Punahou School.
plant
The two novels by the author Comfort Woman (1997) and Fox Girl from 2002 deal with the trauma of Korean women who were forced by the army of the Japanese Empire to serve as prostitutes for Japanese soldiers and officers during World War II . Their euphemistic name was Comfort Women ( comfort women ). The first novel received international acclaim, including from literary critic Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times
honors and awards
- 1995: Pushcart Prize for the short story Mother-Tongue , which was used as the second chapter in the novel Comfort Woman .
- 1998: American Book Award for Comfort Woman .
- 1998: the Hawaiian Elliot Cades Award for Literature for the same novel.
- 2003: Hawai'i Award for Literature
Publications
-
Comfort woman . Viking, New York City 1997, ISBN 0-670-87269-5 .
- The comfort woman , novel. Diana Verlag in Heyne Verlag, Munich / Zurich 1999, ISBN 3-453-15019-8 .
- Fox girl . Viking, New York City 2002, ISBN 0-670-03073-2 .
- as editor
- together with Marie Hara: Intersecting Circles: The Voices of Hapa Women in Poetry and Prose . Bamboo Ridge Press, Honolulu, Hawai'i, USA 1999.
- Yobo: Korean American Writing in Hawai'i . Bamboo Ridge Press, Honolulu, Hawai'i, USA 2003, ISBN 0-910043655 .
Individual evidence
- ^ The New York Times : Repairing Lives Torn by the Past March 25, 1997
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Keller, Nora Okja |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Cobb, Nora Okja (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American author of partial Korean descent |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 22, 1965 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Seoul , Republic of Korea |