Amy Tan Biography and latest books by Amy Tan

Chinese American writer, Amy Tan, was born on February 19, 1952, in Oakland, California. Her first novel The Joy Luck Club was adapted into a movie which became an instant commercial success. Following the success of the movie the book was translated into 35 languages.
Some of her other best selling novel includes, The Kitchen God’s wife, The Hundred Secret Senses and The Bonesetter’s Daughter. She also has two children book to her credit and some Non-fiction novels, one of which is The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings. Out of the two children’s book she wrote, ( The Moon Lady and Sagwa; and The Chinese Siamese Cat), the latter one was turned into an animated series which was aired on PBS.

Amy Tan finished her high school from Switzerland where they had moved from the United States after the death of her elder brother and her father, both from brain tumor in the late 1960s. It was during this time that Amy learned about her mother’s previous marriage with an abusive husband in China. In the year 1987, Amy and her mother Daisy visited China where she met her three half-sisters. She didn’t have the opportunity to meet her half-brother who had died as a toddler.

Amy Tan finished her college from San Jose state University majoring in English and Linguistics. She went on to pursue her doctorate in Linguistics from UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkley. Her first novel, The Joy Luck Club tells the story of Chinese immigrants in America and their struggle to have an identity both in America and China. The book was published in 1989 was very well received and remained on The New York Times bestseller list for more than eight months. This success story was followed by her next best selling novel called The Kitchen God’s wife which was published in 1991. This was more narrative than her previous book. The book tells the story about a Chinese mother and her daughter trying to bridge the communication gap between them.

Her next novel, The Hundred Secret Senses, published in the year 1995 went on to become another bestseller. In the year 2001, The Bonesetter’s Daughter was published. This was followed by a non-fiction novel called The Other Side of Fate: A Book of Musings. This book was written as an autobiography of her experience when she was suffering from Lyme disease. Saving Fish from Drowning was her most recent novel published in 2005. This novel explored the tribulations and fate of a group of people when they got lost in the jungles of Burma during an art expedition.

Currently she lives in Sausalito, California with her husband who Louis Demattei whom she married in 1974 after going on a blind date. She’s also a member of a rock band called Rock Bottom Remainders which has published writers as its members like Stephen King, Sam Barry, Matt Groening, Dave Barry and Barbara Kingsolver.

Submitted by: Precious Pheirim