John Okada (1923-1971) was born in Seattle, Washington, and was interned during World War II at the Minidoka War Relocation Center before joining the U.S. Air Force and earning the rank of sergeant. After the war, he finished his undergraduate degree at the University of Washington and earned a master's degree from Columbia University. His first and only novel, No-No Boy, was published in 1957. Okada died of a heart attack at the age of 47, leaving behind a wife and two children.
Karen Tei Yamashita (introduction) was a National Book Award finalist for her novel I Hotel, which won the California Book Award, the American Book Award, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Award, and the Association for Asian American Studies Book Award. A recipient of the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature, she has been a U.S. Artists Ford Foundation Fellow and a University of California Presidential Chair for Feminist Critical Race and Ethnic Studies. She is a professor of literature and creative writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
