Tan, Amy (1952-…), an American writer, won fame for her novels dealing with the lives and concerns of Asian women in America. She has also written books for children. Tan’s work has been translated into more than 20 languages.
Tan’s first successful book was a collection of interrelated stories titled The Joy Luck Club (1989). A 1993 motion picture of The Joy Luck Club proved a great success and boosted her popularity outside the Asian American community. Her novel The Kitchen God’s Wife (1991) tells the stories of a Chinese American mother and daughter, alternately written from the perspective of the mother and the daughter. Another novel, The Hundred Secret Senses (1995), is an account of the power of love as portrayed through two half sisters, one American and one Chinese. The Bonesetter’s Daughter (2001), like The Kitchen God’s Wife, is a novel that explores the complex relationship between a Chinese mother and her American-born daughter. Saving Fish from Drowning (2005) is a novel about a group of Americans touring China and Myanmar (also called Burma). The Valley of Amazement (2013) moves between Shanghai, China, and San Francisco, California, in the 1800’s as it tells the story of several generations of women. Tan has written two books for children, The Moon Lady (1992) and The Chinese Siamese Cat (1994).
Tan’s first nonfiction work, a selection of autobiographical essays, was published as The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings (2003). She also wrote a memoir, Where the Past Begins: A Writer’s Memoir (2017).
Amy Tan was born on Feb. 19, 1952, of Chinese American parents in Oakland, California. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. She attended school in Montreux, Switzerland, and gained a master’s degree in linguistics from San José State University. In 1988, Tan gave up working as a business writer to devote herself to literary writing.
