Asian Heritage Month: Hiromi Goto

Hiromi Goto is a Canadian author who immigrated from Chiba-ken, Japan to British Columbia at a young age in 1969 before moving to Alberta. Her father farmed mushrooms which influenced her first novel Chorus of Mushrooms which won the regional Commonwealth Writers Prize. She studied creative writing at the University of Calgary with feminist  professors such as Aretha Van Herk who greatly influenced her future work. Mostly, her writing has been inspired by Japanese folktales, her father’s stories and feminism, and explores themes of race, gender, cultural experiences, and the mix of horror and reality. Her impressive collection of work includes adult novels, graphic novels, poetry, short stories, essays, children's books and more. Her novel The Kappa Child based in Japanese folklore and science fiction won a James Tiptree Jr. award in 2001. In The Kappa Child as well as other works she explores the lives of mothers, daughters and the women of the family specifically through the lens of immigrant families. More recently, she’s worked as writer in residence at Athabasca University, University of Alberta, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver Public Library, and Vancouver’s Emily Carr University of Art and Design. More recently, she’s turned to social media and online interviews where she’s shared her work, knowledge and humour and spoken about her work to decolonize the land she lives and works on. Find more at her website or Twitter.