Rowan Hisayo Buchanan

Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
Born 1989/1990 (age 28–29)[1]
Occupation Writer
Nationality American
Education Columbia University
Alma mater University of Wisconsin–Madison
Genre
Notable works Harmless Like You

Rowan Hisayo Buchanan is an American writer. She is the author of the novel Harmless Like You, which won a Betty Trask Award, and the editor of Go Home!, an anthology of stories by Asian Americans.

Biography

Buchanan was born to a half-Chinese, half-Japanese American mother and a British father, and grew up in London and New York.[2] She attended Columbia University, moved to Tokyo to work as an intern for a management consulting firm, then earned her M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.[3][4] In 2015 she was a Margins Fellow at the Asian American Writers' Workshop.[5]

Her first book, Harmless Like You, was published by W.W. Norton in 2017 after a bidding war among publishers for the manuscript.[6] Harmless Like You follows the stories of Yuki, a Japanese girl born in New York who abandons her son, and Jay, the son she abandoned when he was a child.[7] The New York Times called Buchanan's prose in Harmless Like You "lyrical and evocative, if occasionally overdone".[8] NPR described the book as "a multigenerational story about the ways in which hurts can be inherited and inflict pain but also wisdom on innocent descendants".[6] The Guardian noted that "the symmetry of the two storylines is a little too neat" but concluded that "this debut announces a startling talent".[9] Contrasting the author with her book's main character, Ilana Masad wrote in the Los Angeles Review of Books that "there is no doubt about how good an artist she is, for this book demonstrates that she is an excellent one".[10] Harmless Like You won a Betty Trask Award in 2017.[11]

Buchanan is the editor of Go Home!, an anthology from Feminist Press in collaboration with Asian American Writers' Workshop that collects stories from Asian-American writers who "complicate and expand the idea of home".[12]

Personal life

Buchanan identifies as a Japanese-British-Chinese-American, and has said "I’ve always had my hyphens, so it’s hard for me to imagine how I’d write if I was only one thing."[4] She lives in the U.K.[13]

Bibliography

  • Harmless Like You (UK: Sceptre, 2016; US: W. W. Norton & Company, 2017) ISBN 9781473638327 (UK) ISBN 9781324000747 (US)
  • (Editor) Go Home! (Feminist Press, 2018) ISBN 9781936932016

References

  1. ↑ Laing, Sarah (2016-09-28). "This Extraordinary Debut Novel Will Leave You In Tears". Elle Canada. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  2. ↑ Buchanan, Rowan Hisayo (2016-09-08). "Rowan Hisayo Buchanan: 'Pain shape-shifts down the generations'". The Guardian (Interview). Interviewed by Ilana Masad. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  3. ↑ Russell, Steve (2016-10-08). "My brother and I grew up eating macaroni and cheese... with chopsticks". Ipswich Star. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  4. 1 2 Buchanan, Rowan Hisayo. "Rowan Hisayo Buchanan: About the Author". Foyles (Interview). Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  5. ↑ "Meet AAWW's 2015 Margins Fellows!". Asian American Writers' Workshop. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  6. 1 2 Buchanan, Rowan Hisayo (2017-02-25). "'Harmless Like You' Is A Story Of How Hurts Are Inherited". NPR (Interview). Interviewed by Scott Simon. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  7. ↑ Bigman, Fran (2017-03-06). "'Harmless Like You,' by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan". Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  8. ↑ Smith, Namara (2017-03-10). "A Japanese Woman's Life in Art, Made in the Village". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  9. ↑ Rhodes, Emily (2018-07-07). "Harmless Like You by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan review – a startling debut". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  10. ↑ Masad, Ilana (2017-02-28). "The Color of Art: On Rowan Hisayo Buchanan's Debut". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  11. ↑ "Previous winners of the Betty Trask Prize and Awards". Society of Authors. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  12. ↑ "Go Home!". Publishers Weekly. 2018-01-29. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  13. ↑ Buchanan, Rowan Hisayo (2018-04-19). "DEAR READER: A Q&A with Rowan Hisayo Buchanan". Tin House (Interview). Interviewed by Tin House Staff. Retrieved 2018-05-27.


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