Cynthia Kadohata

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Cynthia Kadohata (born 1956 in Chicago Illinois) is a Japanese American writer known for writing coming of age stories about Asian American women. She spent her early childhood in the South; both her first adult novel and first children's novel take place in Southern states. Her first adult novel was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her first children's book, Kira-Kira, won the 2005 Newbery Medal. Her first published short story appeared in The New Yorker in 1986.

Weedflower, her second children's book, was published in Spring 2006. It is about the Poston internment camp where her father was imprisoned during World War II. Her third children's novel, about the Vietnam War from a war dog's perspective, will be published in January 2007 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers. She has three more children's books scheduled to be published by Atheneum.

Her agent is Gail Hochman of Hochman and Brandt.

Novels by the author:

The Floating World, 1989

In the Heart of the Valley of Love, 1992

The Glass Mountains, 1995

Kira-Kira, 2004

Weedflower, 2006

Cracker! The Best Dog in Vietnam, 2007

Education: High school drop-out. BA in journalism from the University of Southern California; attended graduate programs at the University of Pittsburgh and Columbia University.