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Gary Pak (born 1952) is a writer, editor and professor of English at
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa The University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Hawaiʻi system and houses the main offic ...
. Pak has been noted as one of the most important Asian Hawaiian writers.


Biography

Gary Pak was born and raised in
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
. Pak graduated from
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...
with a BA and from University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa with an MA and a PhD. Growing up in Hawaii, Pak said his first language is
Pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified form of contact language that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn f ...
English. "My culture is from Hawaii; my parents’ and grandparents’ generations helped create that culture", he said during an interview with the Magazine of the University of Hawaii. Some of Pak's novels are based on the true stories from his family. His grandparents fled from
Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and came to the United States; in 1905, his grandmother worked on a
sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...
plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...
at Hawaii. His novel ''A Ricepaper Airplane'' is based on an incident related with his mum in the setting of a sugarcane plantation. In his short story collection ''Language of the Geckos and Other Stories'', Pak's memorable portraits of Hawai'i's Korean Americans, Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, and Native Hawaiians increases cross-cultural understanding of Hawaiian life and culture. Pak was also the producer, play writer and editor of the Olelo Community TV series, ''Plantation Children: 2nd-generation Koreans in Hawai'i''. Pak was a recipient of
Fulbright Fellow The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...
.


Selected works


Short stories

*"Hae Soon’s Song", appeared in New Press’ anthology *"Crossing Into America: The New Literature of Immigration"


Books

*''The Watcher of Waipuna'', Bamboo Ridge Press, 1992 *''A Ricepaper Airplane'', University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1998 *''Children of a Fireland'', University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2004 *''Language of the Geckos and Other Stories'', University of Washington Press, 2005


Plays

*''Beyond the Falls'' (children's play) *''Plantation Children: 2nd-generation Koreans in Hawaii'' (TV series)


Selected awards

*1992 Elliot Cades Award for ''The Watcher of Waipuna'' *2004 Honorable Mention in the Association for Asian American Studies' Book Award in Prose and Poetry for ''Children of a Fireland''


References


External links


creative writing program at University of Hawaii
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pak, Gary 1952 births Living people Novelists from Hawaii American writers of Korean descent American educators American academics of English literature American academics of Korean descent University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni Boston University alumni American short story writers American novelists of Asian descent American short story writers of Asian descent American male novelists American male short story writers American male non-fiction writers University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa faculty