Laurence Yep

Laurence Yep (born June 14, 1948, San Francisco, California, U.S.) is a prolific American author of more than 60 children’s and young adult books. He is well known for two of his books, Dragonwings (1975) and Dragon’s Gate (1993), which were named Newbery Honor books. In 2005, Yep won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (now the Children’s Literature Legacy Award) for his overall contributions to children’s literature.

Early life and education

Yep was born in San Francisco’s Chinatown. His father, Thomas Gim Yep, the son of an American citizen, had emigrated from Guangdong province in China to San Francisco at the age of 10. His mother, Franche Lee Yep, who was also of Chinese descent, was born in Lima, Ohio, was raised in West Virginia, and moved to San Francisco when she was 10 years old. Laurence Yep grew up in a predominantly African American neighbourhood, and, until he was in high school, he commuted to a bilingual Jesuit school in San Francisco’s Chinatown every day. During his childhood, he often helped his parents in their small neighbourhood grocery store, which his father opened after the Great Depression. The chores he completed there later helped him to find his daily rhythm as a writer.

As one of the only Asian Americans in his neighbourhood, Yep often felt isolated. When children there pretended to be World War II soldiers, Yep was cast as a Japanese soldier and targeted, though he was of Chinese descent. At the same time, Yep also felt alienated from the Chinese community, because his family was perceived as more Americanized than others. His separation from others drove him to escape into fantasy and science-fiction books, and Yep began writing science fiction in high school. While he was learning the art of writing, two science-fiction authors, Robert Heinlein and Andre Norton, had an influence on him. Yep’s first published story, “The Selchey Kids” (1968), appeared in a science-fiction magazine when he was 18 years old.

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Yep attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for two years before graduating in 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 1973 his first novel, Sweetwater (1973), was published. He subsequently obtained a doctorate in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo (now the University at Buffalo) in 1975. In addition to his work as a writer, Yep has taught writing and Asian American studies at various colleges and universities, including the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 1984 he married Joanne Ryder, a writer and an editor whom he had met during college.

Career

Most of Yep’s writings have been inspired by his childhood and the racial isolation he experienced. His stories treat various social conflicts in a way that young readers can understand and relate to. In Dragonwings, which is part of the Golden Mountain Chronicles series, Yep told the story of a Chinese American family trying to establish a life in San Francisco and of the people they meet along the way. Dragon’s Gate, also part of that series, explores the experiences of Chinese workers on the American transcontinental railroad in the 1860s. Other books in the series include Sea Glass (1979), Mountain Light (1985), The Traitor (2003), and Dragons of Silk (2011).

Yep’s other books include the fantasy series Shimmer and Thorn, with such titles as Dragon of the Lost Sea (1982), Dragon Steel (1985), Dragon Cauldron (1991), and Dragon War (1992). The Chinatown Mysteries series includes The Case of the Goblin Pearls (1997), The Case of the Lion Dance (1998), and The Case of the Firecrackers (1999). Later series are the Tiger’s Apprentice, with the books The Tiger’s Apprentice (2003), Tiger’s Blood (2005), and Tiger Magic (2006), and the City Trilogy, with City of Fire (2009), City of Ice (2011), and City of Death (2013). With his wife, Yep wrote the Dragon’s Guide series about the adventures of a dragon named Miss Drake and her human pet Winnie. The books in the series are A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans (2015), A Dragon’s Guide to Making Your Human Smarter (2016), and A Dragon’s Guide to Making Perfect Wishes (2017).

Yep also wrote numerous stand-alone books, including The Imp That Ate My Homework (1997), about a boy and his grandfather, who team up to fight a mean-spirited imp. When the Circus Came to Town (2001) concerns a young 19th-century girl who, though scarred from smallpox, regains her confidence and helps to teach compassion and tolerance. Set in the 1950s, The Star Maker (2010) follows Artie, an eight-year-old boy who brags to his cousin that he can get fireworks for the Chinese New Year for everyone in his family. Artie and his uncle form a strong relationship while working together to meet this goal.

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Yep’s books The Rainbow People (1989) and Tongues of Jade (1991) are collections of Chinese folktales. Yep has also written a science-fiction novel for adults, Seademons (1977), and an autobiography, The Lost Garden (1991).