Karl Taro Greenfeld

File:Karl Taro Greenfeld 2014-05-31 23-00.jpg

Karl Taro Greenfeld (born 1965) is a journalist, novelist and television writer known primarily for his articles on life in modern Asia and both his fiction and non-fiction in The Paris Review.

Biography

Born in Kobe, Japan, to a Japanese mother and a Jewish-American father, the writers Fumiko Kometani and Josh Greenfeld.{{cite news |last1=Chen |first1=Howard Henry |title=Author Experiences Then Details Japan's Seamy, Un-Touristy Side |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-10-17-1994290075-story.html |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=October 17, 1994 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620125050/https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-10-17-1994290075-story.html |archive-date=June 20, 2021}} Greenfeld grew up in Los Angeles and went to college in New York City, graduating from Sarah Lawrence in 1987. He served as an Assistant Language Teacher on the JET Programme in Japan from 1988 to 1989.{{cite conference|conference=Unitec Institute of Technology: Cool New Asia symposium|location=Auckland NZ|pages=83-94|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316595569_Bonnah_T_2012_Neo-Tokyo_Revisited_Deterritorialized_youth_globalization_fears_and_reader_response_to_Karl_Taro_Greenfeld%27s_Speed_Tribes_Unitec_Institute_of_Technology_%27Cool_New_Asia%27_conference_procee|title=Neo-Tokyo Revisited: Deterritorialized Youth, Globalization Fears and Reader Response to Karl Taro Greenfeld's Speed Tribes|last1=Bonnah|first1=Theodore|date=2012}} A regular contributor to publications such as GQ, The Atlantic and Vogue, Greenfeld was the managing editor of Tokyo Journal before becoming the editor of Time Asia from 2002–2004 and editor-at-large at Sports Illustrated from 2004–2007.{{cite web |last1=McDonell |first1=Nick |title=Karl Taro Greenfeld on His Novel Triburbia, Con Men, and Literary Success |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/karl-taro-greenfeld-on-his-novel-triburbia-con-men-and-literary-success |website=The Daily Beast |date=August 9, 2012}} He was the Tokyo correspondent for The Nation.{{cite web |url=http://asiasociety.org/southern-california/events/dan-washburn-and-karl-taro-greenfeld-forbidden-game-golf-and-chinese-drea |title=The Forbidden Game: Golf and the Chinese Dream|author=Washburn, Dan|date=September 17, 2014 |publisher=Asia Society |accessdate=May 24, 2015}} He is the author of three books about Asia: Speed Tribes: Days and Nights with Japan's Next Generation and Standard Deviations: Growing Up and Coming Down in the New Asia, and an account of the breakout of the SARS virus, China Syndrome: The True Story of the 21st Century's First Great Epidemic.{{cite web |author1=Lapham’s Quarterly |title=Karl Taro Greenfeld |url=https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/contributors/greenfeld |website=Lapham’s Quarterly |date=2018}}

Greenfeld was greatly influenced by his parents, especially his father. In an interview, he said, "My dad was a huge influence in terms of what I think about writing, what has to be in a story, what has to be in a book. He's still a huge influence. When I wrote something well, he would make me feel really good. When I wrote something bad, he made me feel terrible. As a kid, it was most of my highs and lows{{emdash}}to the point that if the writing was really good, it almost excused weeks of bad behavior. He would forgive any transgression if I wrote a good story."{{cite web | url = http://asiapacificarts.usc.edu/article@apa?from_new_journalism_in_china_to_autism_interview_with_karl_taro_greenfeld_15074.aspx | title = From New Journalism in China to Autism: Interview with Karl Taro Greenfeld|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100523012437/http://asiapacificarts.usc.edu/(A(mjJkl6gwywEkAAAAOWNjM2Y1MjktNjg4NS00MjRlLWFkN2ItOGIwYmVlMjUxMjQ5x17VE9kHuuL6dMbEEsRYIyxOyWc1)S(lsk3qb55pwbqtome2ac45i55))/w_apa/showarticle.aspx?articleID=15074|archive-date=May 23, 2010|author=Wolley, Leann|url-status=dead | publisher = Asia Pacific Arts | date = April 29, 2010}} His younger brother Noah was the subject of the elder Greenfeld's "Noah" trilogy of books (A Child Called Noah, A Place for Noah, and A Client Called Noah); these books also indirectly chronicle Greenfeld's childhood. In May 2009, Greenfeld published his own memoir of his years with Noah, Boy Alone: A Brother's Memoir.{{cite web |last1=Lewis |first1=Andy |last2=Siegel |first2=Tatiana |title=Rights Available! Ronan Farrow’s ‘Catch and Kill’ |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/arts/rights-available-ronan-farrows-catch-kill-1112128/ |website=The Hollywood Reporter |date=May 16, 2018}}

His short stories have won the Pushcart Prize (2021), the Alice Hoffman Prize (2012) and O. Henry Prize (2012) and appeared in Best American Short Stories (2009 and 2013).{{cite magazine |author1=The American Scholar |title=An Essay on the Differences of the Races |magazine=The American Scholar |date=2021 |pages=98-103 |publisher=United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa Society |id={{ProQuest|2595142692}} |quote=His short stories have appeared in the Pushcart Prize, O. Henry Awards, and Best American Short Stories anthologies.}}{{cite journal |editor1-last=Jackson |editor1-first=Major |title=Alice Hoffman Prize for Fiction |journal=Ploughshares |date=2013 |issue=120 |url=https://www.pshares.org/issues/spring-2013/alice-hoffman-prize-fiction}}

His novel Triburbia, about a group of families living in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan, was published by Harper in July 2012. His novel The Subprimes about a woman who may or may not be the messiah, and the band of impoverished homeless Americans she comes to lead, was published by Harper in May 2015.

He has written for the Showtime drama Ray Donovan, the Netflix live action remake of Cowboy Bebop, and the HBO Max series Tokyo Vice.{{cite web |last1=Greenfeld |first1=Karl Taro |title=I Like My Agents—But I Fired Them Anyway |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/karl-taro-greenfeld-my-take-wga-mess/587320/ |website=The Atlantic |language=en |date=April 17, 2019}} He is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and a Knight-Bagehott Fellow of Columbia University.{{cite web |title=Henry Crown Fellowship Program: Karl Greenfeld |url=https://agln.aspeninstitute.org/profile/3418 |website=Aspen Institute}}{{cite web |title=Karl Taro Greenfeld's Articles at Salon.com |url=https://www.salon.com/writer/karl_taro_greenfeld |website=Salon}}

In 2025, he wrote about the destruction of his home during the Palisades Fire.{{citation |last=Greenfield|first=Karl Taro|title=Mourning Our Dream Home in the Pacific Palisades| newspaper=The Wallstreet Journal |date=January 10, 2025 |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/society-culture-and-history/pop-culture/mourning-our-dream-home-in-the-pacific-palisades/ar-BB1rfrsZ}}

Works

{{cite book| title=TRUE| publisher=Little A| year= 2018| isbn= 978-1-5420-4684-8}}
{{cite book| title=The Subprimes| publisher=Harper| year= 2015| isbn= 978-0-06-213242-0}}
{{cite book| title=Dr. J: The Autobiography (w/ Julius Erving)| publisher=Harper| year= 2013| isbn= 978-0-06-218792-5}}
{{cite book| title=Triburbia| publisher=Harper| year=2012| isbn=978-0-06-213239-0| url=https://archive.org/details/triburbia00karl}}
{{cite book| title=NowTrends| publisher=Short Flight/Long Drive Books| year= 2011| isbn= 978-0-9825301-5-3 }}
{{cite book| title=Boy Alone| url=https://archive.org/details/boyalonebrothers00gree| url-access=registration| publisher=Harper| year= 2009| isbn= 978-0-06-113667-2 }}
{{cite book| title=China Syndrome| publisher=Harper| year=2006| isbn=978-0-06-058722-2| url=https://archive.org/details/chinasyndromekil00gree}}
{{cite book| title=Standard Deviations| publisher=Random House| year=2002| isbn=978-0-8129-9269-4| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/standarddeviatio0000gree}}
{{cite book| title=Speed Tribes| publisher=Harper| year= 1994| isbn= 0-06-092665-1 }}

Citations

References

[http://rolfpotts.com/karl-taro-greenfeld/ Travel Writer: Karl Taro Greenfeld] Interview with Rolf Potts
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070929135455/http://www.figure8productions.com/e_ktg_interview.htm Speed Tribes Revisited-An Hour with Karl Taro Greenfeld] Interview with Jean-Marc Moorghen
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/06/AR2006040601666.html Review of China Syndrome] by Laurie Garrett at The Washington Post
[https://www.npr.org/2009/05/18/104242711/a-brother-recalls-life-in-the-shadow-of-autism A Brother Recalls Life In the Shadow Of Autism] Interview with NPR: All Things Considered

External links

[http://www.karltarogreenfeld.com/karltarogreenfeld/about.html About Karl Taro Greenfeld] Official website
[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2391773/ Karl Taro Greenfeld] at IMDB

Category:1964 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century American Jews

Category:21st-century American journalists

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers

Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:American male journalists

Category:American male non-fiction writers

Category:American male novelists

Category:American male television writers

Category:American writers of Japanese descent