Maxine Hong Kingston

Maxine Hong was the eldest of six children born to Chinese immigrants. Her father, Tom, had been a poet, teacher, and calligrapher in his native country. He smuggled himself to New York City from Cuba and was deported from Ellis Island until his third attempt to enter the United States, which was successful. Unable to find work in his new country as a scholar, he took a job in a laundry and then sent for his wife, Ying Lan, in 1939. Kingston’s mother had also been a professional—a midwife and doctor trained in both Chinese and Western medicine. Kingston credits her mother for bestowing her with a gift for storytelling. Ying Lan had learned the ancient art of “talk-story” from her own father, who had been a village storyteller. From her mother, Kingston heard tales about life in China, such as women going to the market to buy girl slaves, as well as myths and legends. Such stories would be incorporated into The Woman Warrior, her debut work. Kingston was educated at the University of California-Berkeley where she had received a scholarship for engineering. Later, she switched her major to English. While at Berkeley, she became involved in the Free Speech Movement, which first developed at Berkeley before spreading to other campuses. Kingston’s involvement in these protests would lead to a lifetime of activism, particularly anti-war pacifism. In 1962, she married Earll Kingston and the couple had one son. Kingston and her husband took teaching positions, first in Northern California, and then in Honolulu, Hawaii, where they moved in 1967. The success of her writing career led to Kingston being named Distinguished Professor of English at her alma mater, Berkeley, in 1990. Kingston continues to publish and leads writing retreats for war veterans and widows whose work she helps to publish.