Garrett Hongo
(b. 1951)

Of Japanese descent, poet Garrett Hongo was born in Volcano, Hawaii but moved to California with his family when he was six years old. He attended a racially mixed high school in Los Angeles, where he was exposed to the street life and cultural alienation that have influenced his work as a poet. Hongo attended Pomona College, the University of Michigan, and the University of California at Irvine, where he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in English.

Of his work, Hongo says, "My project as a poet has been motivated by a search for origins of various kinds, quests for ethnic and familial roots, cultural identity, and poetic inspiration, all ultimately somehow connected with my need for an active imaginative and spiritual life."

Hongo teaches the graduate poetry workshop at the University of Oregon in Eugene. He has written two books of poetry—Yellow Light (1982) and The River of Heaven (1988)—which explore the experiences of Asian Americans in Anglo society. His most recent book is Volcano: A Memoir of Hawaii (1995), in which he connects with his family's past.

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