Lawson Fusao Inada (born May 26, 1938) is a

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian Americans, Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 United States census, 2000 census, they have declined in ...

poet. He was the fifth poet laureate of the state of

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

Early life

Born May 26, 1938, Inada is a third-generation

(''

Sansei is a Japanese and North American English term used in parts of the world (mainly in South America and North America) to refer to the children of children born to ethnically Japanese emigrants (''Issei'') in a new country of residence, outside o ...

''). His father, Fusaji, worked as a dentist, while his mother, Masako, helped run the family fish market in Fresno's Chinatown. In May 1942, at the age of three years, Inada and his family were

interned Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...

for the duration of

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 ...

at camps in

Fresno Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

, the

Jerome War Relocation Center The Jerome War Relocation Center was a Japanese American internment camp located in southeastern Arkansas, near the town of Jerome, Arkansas, Jerome in the Arkansas Delta. Open from October 6, 1942, until June 30, 1944, it was the last American ...

in Arkansas, and

Granada War Relocation Center Granada War Relocation Center, known to the internees as Camp Amache ( ) and later designated the Amache National Historic Site, was a concentration camp for Japanese Americans in Prowers County, Colorado. Following the Japanese attack on Pear ...

in Colorado. After the war, the Inadas returned to Fresno and once again ran the fish market, having trusted the business to family friends who operated it on their behalf during their confinement.

Jazz influences

Following the war, Inada became a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

musician, a

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

, following the work of

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

, and

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop ...

, to whom he would later write tributes in his works. Inada cites jazz and his time in the internment camps as his chief influences as a poet. He studied writing at the

Fresno State University California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

, the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

, and the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

Career highlights

Inada's first teaching job was at the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

, from 1962 to 1965. He moved to Oregon and earned an MFA from the University of Oregon in 1966, beginning teaching poetry at

Southern Oregon University Southern Oregon University (SOU) is a public university in Ashland, Oregon. It was founded in 1872 as the Ashland Academy, has been in its current location since 1926, and was known by nine other names before assuming its current name in 1997.Kre ...

later that year. In 1994, Inada's ''Legends from Camp'' won an

American Book Award The American Book Awards are an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "t ...

, and he has received several poetry fellowships from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

. He also won the 1997 Stafford/Hall Award for Poetry. In 2006 Inada was named Oregon's fifth poet laureate, the first person to fill the position since William Stafford in 1990. He was succeeded by

Paulann Petersen Paulann Petersen (born 1942) an American poet from the state of Oregon. A native of Portland, she was Oregon's sixth poet laureate. Biography Petersen was born in 1942 in Portland, Oregon, where she graduated from Franklin High School in Southe ...

in 2010.

Select works

* ''Three Northwest Poets: Drake, Inada, Lawder, Madison'': Quixote Press, 1970. * ''Before the War; Poems as They Happened'', New York: Morrow, 1971. * ''

Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian-American Writers ''Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian-American Writers'' is a 1974 anthology by Frank Chin, Jeffery Paul Chan, Lawson Fusao Inada, and Shawn Wong, members of the Combined Asian American Resources Project (C.A.R.P.). It helped establish East Asian ...

'', Washington, DC: Howard University Press, 1974 (Coeditor). * ''The Buddha Bandits Down Highway 99'', Mountain View: Buddhahead Press, 1978 (With Garrett Kaoru Hongo and Alan Chong Lau). * ''The Big Aiiieeeee!: An Anthology of Chinese American and Japanese American Literature'', New York: Penguin, 1990 (Coeditor). * ''Legends From Camp'', Minneapolis: Coffee House Press, 1993. Winner, American Book Award. Finalist, Los Angeles Times Book Award for Poetry. * ''In This Great Land of Freedom: The Japanese Pioneers of Oregon'', Los Angeles: Japanese American National Museum, 1993 (Contributor). * ''Touching the Stones: Tracing One Hundred Years of Japanese American History'', Portland: Oregon Nikkei Endowment, 1994 (Contributor). * ''Just Intonations'', Ashland, Oregon: Graven Images Gallery Press, 1996. * ''Drawing the Line'', Minneapolis: Coffee House Press, 1997. Winner, Oregon Book Award for Poetry. A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age. * ''Only What We Could Carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience'', Berkeley:

Heyday Books Heyday is an independent nonprofit publisher based in Berkeley, California. Heyday was founded by Malcolm Margolin in 1974 when he wrote, typeset, designed, and distributed ''The East Bay Out'', a guide to the natural history of the hills and ...

, 2000 (Editor and author of introduction). * ''Unfinished Message: Selected Works of Toshio Mori'', Berkeley: Heyday Books, 2000 (Author of introduction). * ''A Matter of Conscience: Essays on the World War II Heart Mountain Draft Resistance Movement.'' Powell, Wyoming: Western History Publications, 2002 (Contributor).

Notes

References

* Leonard, George. (1999)
''The Asian Pacific American Heritage: A Companion to Literature and Arts.''
London:

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in the United Kingdom that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, Routledge, F1000 (publisher), F1000 Research and Dovepress. It i ...

. ; 10_ISBN 978-0-8153-2980-0 * Niiya, Brian. (1993)
''Japanese American History: An A-to-Z Reference from 1868 to the Present.''
New York: Facts on File; Bonn: Verlag für die Deutsche Wirtschaft AG.
OCLC: 26853950

External links

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

"Oregon Laureate Reflects on Japanese Internment,"

NewsHour ''Newshour'' is BBC World Service's flagship international news and current affairs radio programme, which is broadcast twice daily: weekdays at 1400, weekends at 1300 and nightly at 2100 (UK time). There is also an additional online programme ...

. October 3, 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Inada, Lawson Fusao 1938 births Living people Writers from Fresno, California American writers of Japanese descent Japanese-American internees Southern Oregon University faculty Writers from Ashland, Oregon American poets American poets of Asian descent Poets laureate of Oregon American Book Award winners