About the Author
Julie Otsuka was born and raised in California. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale University, where she received her B.A. in art, and for several years she pursued a career as a painter before later turning to writing. Her fiction has been anthologized in Scribner’s Best of the Fiction Workshops 1998 and Otsuka’s first novel, When the Emperor Was Divine (Knopf, ‘02), was published in the US by Alfred Knopf in September `02. It was reprinted 4 times in hardback and the paperback edition is currently in its 5 th printing (as of March 04).
When the Emperor Was Divine was longlisted for the Orange Prize (‘03) in England, and was a finalist for the Barnes & Noble ‘Discover Great New Writers Award’ contest (‘03). It was also the winner of the Asian American Literary Award (’03). Otsuka lives in New York City and is currently at work on her second novel. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship 2004.
Photo by Daryl N. Long