Tamiko Nimura
(Yes, all of these are true. And there is more info here!)
Shortest bio:
Tamiko Nimura is an Asian American creative nonfiction writer and public historian living in Tacoma, Washington.
Younger readers version:
Tamiko Nimura is an Asian American (Japanese American/Filipina American) writer from Tacoma, Washington. She lives with her husband, two daughters, a guinea pig, and a dog. She likes to bake, especially banana bread and brownies. Her favorite young adult authors include Kate diCamillo, Madeleine L’Engle, L.M.Montgomery, and Gene Luen Yang. She and her kids have enjoyed the Ivy and Bean series and all books by Mo Willems. Ever since she was a little girl she wanted to be a writer, but took a few career detours along the way. We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration is a collaboration, and it is her first book for younger readers.
Literary version:
Tamiko Nimura is an Asian American creative nonfiction writer living in Tacoma, Washington. She has degrees in English from UC Berkeley (BA) and the University of Washington, Seattle (MA, PhD). Her poems, essays and interviews have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Off Assignment, Narratively, The Rumpus, Full Grown People, Heron Tree, HYPHEN, Kartika Review, and Blue Cactus Press. She has essays in the anthologies Ghosts of Seattle Past (2018) and New California Writing (Heyday 2012). At UC Berkeley, she studied creative writing with Ishmael Reed and Gary Soto. She has read at the Looseleaf Reading series (Seattle), King’s Books and Blue Cactus Press (Tacoma), and the San Francisco Public Library. She is a 2016 Artists Up grant recipient and a 2019 GAP Award recipient.
Public historian version:
Tamiko Nimura is an Asian American creative nonfiction writer and public historian living in Tacoma, Washington. Her training in literature and American ethnic studies (MA, PhD, University of Washington) prepared her to research, document, and tell the stories of people of color. She is currently an Affiliate Professor in the School of Urban Studies at the University of Washington, Tacoma.
Tamiko’s first book was Rosa Franklin: A Life in Health Care, Public Service, and Social Justice (Washington State Legislature Oral History Program, 2020). Her second book is a co-written graphic novel, titled We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration (Chin Music Press/Wing Luke Asian Museum, 2021).
In 2014, Tamiko began to research the history of Japanese Americans in Tacoma. Since 2016, she has organized an annual Day of Remembrance commemorating the eviction of Japanese Americans from Tacoma. Together with her husband Josh Parmenter and historian Michael Sullivan, she created a an app with a self-guided walking tour of Tacoma’s historic Japantown. In 2020, her family history and its connections to her public history work were featured on public television (KBTC Profiles).
Tamiko contributes frequently to HistoryLink.org, the Washington State online encyclopedia, as a member of the Pierce County Editorial Committee. She has published articles on Tacoma’s Nihonmachi (Japantown), Robert Mizukami, and Dr. George and Kimi Tanbara.
She is the 2021 recipient of the Tacoma Historical Society’s Murray Morgan Award for notable achievements in researching and preserving local history.
Arts writer version:
Tamiko Nimura is an Asian American writer living in Tacoma, Washington. She has written profiles, reviews, and interviews with BIPOC artists for the Seattle’s International Examiner, Discover Nikkei, Crosscut, and KNKX. Past subjects include Anida Yoeu Ali, C. Rosalind Bell, Kiku Hughes, Fumiko Kimura, Saiyare Refaei, Allen Say, June Sekiguchi, and Renee Simms.
_________