Karen Tei Yamashita on Why We Shouldn't Take Fiction Lightly

"Karen Tei Yamashita is one of the preeminent voices of Asian American literature, a writer known for her ambitious novels surveying the intricacies of the immigrant experience. Her work, marked by dark humor, is a blend of different genres- historical fiction, magical realism, and playwriting. She has written about Black, Asian, and Latinx immigrant communities straddling the US-Mexico border and Japanese émigrés in Brazil, all with an eye on how the driving forces of the 20th century-migration, war, and globalization-have influenced the construction of national and cultural identities."

"Yamashita was born to Nisei, second-generation Japanese Americans, who were imprisoned in detention camps during World War II, under President Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066, which called for the removal of 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry to one of 10 internment sites operated by the War Relocation Authority. The sites were officially referred to as "relocation centers," but by modern definitions they were concentration camps."

"Her latest novel, Questions 27 & 28, is an exploration of that period, taking its title from Selective Service Form 304A, or "Statement of United States Citizen of Japanese Ancestry," which became informally known as " the loyalty questionnaire" by internees who were forced to answer its contentious final two questions as a condition of their release."

"The novel is told through a polyvocal collage of narrators whose material realities help flesh out the personal consequences of social ruptures like internment-from a sculptor who dreams of building an art school in a desert barracks to Japanese and American children engaged in simulated naval battle with paper ships in a pond. Yamashita brought these histories to the surface from a variety of sources, including letters, telegrams, and archival oral-history projects, with"

Karen Tei Yamashita is known for ambitious novels that survey the immigrant experience through dark humor and a blend of historical fiction, magical realism, and playwriting. Her writing centers Black, Asian, and Latinx immigrant communities along the US-Mexico border and Japanese émigrés in Brazil, focusing on how migration, war, and globalization shape national and cultural identities. She was born to Nisei Japanese Americans imprisoned during World War II under Executive Order 9066, which led to the removal of 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry to internment sites run by the War Relocation Authority. Her latest novel, Questions 27 & 28, examines that period using the title’s reference to the loyalty questionnaire’s final two questions. The story uses a polyvocal collage of narrators, including a sculptor dreaming of an art school and children reenacting naval battles, drawing on letters, telegrams, and archival oral histories.

Read at The Nation