American Book Awards
2 appearances
-
Edition 4 (1983) Winner
-
Edition 20 (1999) Winner
James D. Houston
ジェームズ・ディー・ヒューストン
James D. Houston
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1933-11-10 （San Francisco, California, U.S.）
- Died
- 2009-04-16 （Santa Cruz, California, U.S.） age 75
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
Career
- Occupations
- novelist, poet, editor
- Active Years
- 1960-2009
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowell High School (San Francisco) | — | — | — | — | United States |
| San José State University | — | — | — | — | United States |
| Stanford University | — | — | — | — | United States |
Lowell High School (San Francisco)
Country:
United States
San José State University
Country:
United States
Met his future wife Jeanne Wakatsuki while studying here
Stanford University
Country:
United States
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | American Book Award | — | — | Before Columbus Foundation | winner |
| 1999 | American Book Award | — | — | Before Columbus Foundation | winner |
| — | Joseph Henry Jackson Award (Fiction) | — | — | — | winner |
| — | Humanitas Prize | — | — | — | winner |
American Book Award
1983
Organization:
Before Columbus Foundation
Result:
winner
American Book Award
1999
Organization:
Before Columbus Foundation
Result:
winner
Joseph Henry Jackson Award (Fiction)
Result:
winner
Humanitas Prize
Result:
winner
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
Between Battles
1968 novelAn early novel by Houston; detailed summary not provided here.
personal conflicthistorical context
Farewell to Manzanar
1973 non-fiction / memoir (co-authored)Co-authored with his wife Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston; a bestselling memoir about her family's experiences at the Manzanar internment camp during World War II.
internmentmemory and identityimmigrant experience
Adaptations
- [TV movie] Farewell to Manzanar (TV adaptation) (1976)
Snow Mountain Passage
2001 historical novelA historical novel inspired by a personal link to the ill-fated Donner Party, exploring early California history.
frontier historysurvival and hardship
Bird of Another Heaven
2007 historical novelA historical novel based on the life of Nani Keala, exploring California's beginnings and connections between Native American and Native Hawaiian histories.
indigenous historycultural intersections
Californians: Searching for the Golden State
1982 non-fiction / essaysA collection of essays exploring people and places of California, investigating the state's diverse history and culture.
regionalismhistorical exploration
Bibliography
- Between Battles (1968)
- Gig (1969)
- A Native Son of the Golden West (1972)
- Farewell to Manzanar (with Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston) (1973)
- An Occurrence At Norman's Burger Castle (1972)
- The adventures of Charlie Bates (1973)
- Three Songs for My Father (1974)
- Continental Drift (1978)
- California Heartland: Writing from the Great Central Valley (with Gerald W. Haslam) (1978)
- West Coast Fiction: Modern Writing from California, Oregon, and Washington (editor) (1979)
- Gasoline: The automotive adventures of Charlie Bates (1980)
- Californians: Searching for the Golden State (1982)
- One Can Think About Life After the Fish Is in the Canoe / Beyond Manzanar (with Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston) (1985)
- Love Life (1985)
- The Men in My Life: And Other More or Less True Recollections of Kinship (1987)
- Surfing: the sport of Hawaiian kings (1996)
- In the Ring of Fire: A Pacific Basin Journey (1997)
- Farewell to Manzanar with Connections (with Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston) (1998)
- The Last Paradise (Literature of the American West) (1998)
- Snow Mountain Passage (2001)
- The Literature of California, Volume 1: Native American Beginnings to 1945 (editor) (2001)
- Hawaiian Son (with Eddie Kamae) (2004)
- Bird of Another Heaven (2007)
- Where Light takes its Color From the Sea (2008)
- A Queen's Journey (2011, posthumous)
Adaptations
- Farewell to Manzanar (TV movie, 1976)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- realist, regionally grounded descriptionnarrative blending history and personal story
- Recurring Motifs
- California and Pacific landscapesimmigrant and ethnic identityfamily memory and history
Health
-
lymphoma晩年Died in 2009 from complications related to lymphoma
Legacy
Known for works centered on California and the Pacific, and widely recognized for co-authoring Farewell to Manzanar with his wife Jeanne. Considered an important contributor to regional literature and immigrant histories in American letters.
Trivia
- Co-authored the bestselling Farewell to Manzanar with his wife Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston.
- Won the American Book Award twice (1983, 1999).
- Wrote several historical novels exploring California history, including Snow Mountain Passage.