Amy Tan

Amy Tan was born February 19, 1952 in Oakland California. Her family lived in several communities in Northern California, both parents are Chinese immigrants. Her father named John Tan was an electrical engineer, he also had a second job as a Baptist minister. He came to America to escape the turmoil of the Chinese Civil War. Amy’s mother is named Daisy who inspires her book The Kitchen God’s Wife. Her mother divorces her first husband who abused her, but had custody of her three daughters. She escapes on the last boat to leave Shanghai before the communist took over. Moving to the United States, she marries John Tan in which they produced three children, Amy and her two brothers. In Amy’s teenage years she experiences the loss of her father and older brother due to brain tumors in 1966, which Amy soon finds out she has two half sisters who lives in China from her mothers first marriage. Later on Amy, her mother and younger brother move to Europe, her mother tries to carry on their Chinese traditions, but Amy longed to be Americanized.

Amy attended high school in Montreux, Switzerland. When Amy graduated high school, she moves back to the United States. She soon attends Linfield College in Oregon, San Jose City College, San Jose State University, the University of California at Santa Cruz and the University of California at Berkeley. Although Amy’s mother wants her to become a neurosurgeon, Amy had different plans to become a writer. After graduating college she became a language development consultant and as a corporate freelance writer. Although it was a good job, Amy was not happy and achieved her life long dream to become a writer.

After sometime, Amy finally became a technical writer, but later on turns to fiction wri...

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...ependent are also a clear theme in this book” and many women throughout different countries enjoy all of her books (CastleofDreams).

Amy Tan has been very successful coming to American, in spring 2010 she received the School of the Arts student of the year award from the office of Multicultural Affairs. Amy has been found performing at Young Artist Series at the College of Charleston and Bishop Gadsden, Charleston Symphony Orchestra League (CSOL), and Piccolo Spoleto Festival at the College of Charleston. Another talent Amy has other than writing is playing the piano where she achieved a scholarship from the university of Florida in 2007. She now currently studies with Enrique Graf at the College of Charleston, South Carolina under a scholarship. Amy Tan has been married to her husband, Lou DeMattei, for over twenty years who live in San Francisco and New York.