Lensey Namioka
(b. 1929)

Lensey Namioka was born in China and moved with her family to the United States when she was a teenager. Before beginning a career as a writer, Namioka worked as a mathematics instructor. She is best known for her series of exciting, adventure-mystery books about two 16th-century Japanese samurai warriors and for her humorous, juvenile novels about young Chinese immigrants living in Seattle. Her novel Who's Hu?, the story of a Chinese girl learning the ways of Americans, is among her most popular works. "For my writings I draw heavily on my Chinese cultural heritage and on my husband's Japanese cultural heritage. My involvement with Japan started before my marriage, since my mother spent many years in Japan," she explains.

In addition to her fiction, Namioka also works on nonfiction. A writer of travel books, she has written How to Order and Eat in Chinese (1974) and Japan: A Traveler's Companion (1979).

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