Mako Yoshikawa
JapanAbout
Mako Yoshikawa is an American novelist, essayist, and professor of creative writing known for exploring complex family relationships, identity, and the emotional contradictions of human experience. She is the author of two novels, One Hundred and One Ways (1999) and Once Removed (2003), both of which examine the intricacies of relationships and personal identity. Yoshikawa’s essays have appeared in literary publications including The Missouri Review, Harvard Review, Southern Indiana Review, and LitHub, as well as in The Best American Essays. Her nonfiction often combines personal experience with broader questions of culture, history, and psychology. She is a professor of creative writing and directs the MFA program at Emerson College. Following her father’s death in 2010, she began writing about their difficult relationship, gradually developing the essays that became Secrets of the Sun: A Memoir (2024). Through this work, she examines the intersections of mental illness, immigration, racism, and family trauma, seeking to understand her father’s life without diminishing the harm he caused.
