Gary Pak
{{short description|American novelist}}
Gary Pak (born 1952) is a writer, editor and professor of English at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.[http://english.hawaii.edu/faculty/gary-pak/ Pak's faculty profile] Pak has been noted as one of the most important Asian Hawaiian writers.[http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/search/books/PAKLAN.html Gary Pak: Language of the Geckos and Other Stories]
Biography
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.[http://www.hawaii.edu/malamalama/2003/07/GaryPak.html Local and Korean roots nourish UH writer Gary Pak]
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
=Short stories=
- "Hae Soon’s Song", appeared in New Press’ anthology
- "Crossing Into America: The New Literature of Immigration"
=Books=
- The Watcher of Waipuna, Bamboo Ridge Press, 1992[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0910043280 amazon book: The Watcher of Waipuna]
- A Ricepaper Airplane, University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1998[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0824813014 amazon book: A Ricepaper Airplane]
- Children of a Fireland, University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2004
- Language of the Geckos and Other Stories, University of Washington Press, 2005[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0295985275 Language of the Geckos: And Other Stories (The Scott and Laurie Oki Series in Asian American Studies)]
=Plays=
- Beyond the Falls (children's play)
- Plantation Children: 2nd-generation Koreans in Hawaii (TV series)
Selected awards
- 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{{cite book|last=Oh|first=Seiwoong|title=Encyclopedia of Asian-American literature|year=2007|publisher=Facts On File|location=New York|isbn=978-0816060863|page=237}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20100610043209/http://www.english.hawaii.edu/cw/faculty/GPak/index.html creative writing program at University of Hawaii]
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Category:Novelists from Hawaii
Category:American writers of Korean descent
Category:American academics of English literature
Category:American academics of Korean descent
Category:University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni
Category:Boston University alumni
Category:American short story writers
Category:American novelists of Asian descent
Category:American short story writers of Asian descent
Category:American male novelists
Category:American male short story writers