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. She writes from an interdisciplinary space at the intersection of her love of literature, grounding in American ethnic studies, inherited wisdom from teachers and activists, and storytelling through history.
Combined bio:
Tamiko Nimura, Ph.D., is an award-winning Asian American (Sansei/Pinay) creative nonfiction writer, community journalist, and public historian. She writes from an interdisciplinary space at the intersection of her love of literature, grounding in American ethnic studies, inherited wisdom from teachers and activists, and storytelling through history. Her work has appeared in a variety of national and international outlets, including San Francisco Chronicle, Smithsonian Magazine, Off Assignment, Narratively, The Rumpus, SFMOMA Open Space, and Seattle’s International Examiner. A two-time VONA Voices fellow, she has received awards from the Ford Foundation, Artist Trust, City of Tacoma Artists Initiative, the Tacoma Arts Commission, and the Tacoma Historical Society. Her commissioned work includes a California permanent exhibit, a co-authored graphic novel titled We Hereby Refuse, and a 10+-year series of essays for the Japanese American National Museum. She is a board member of the Tule Lake Committee. Her forthcoming memoir is titled A PLACE FOR WHAT WE LOSE: A DAUGHTER’S RETURN TO TULE LAKE (University of Washington Press). As the direct descendant of Japanese American World War II incarcerees, Tamiko has worked to keep this history alive through her writing and public speaking.
Younger readers version:
Tamiko Nimura is an Asian American (Japanese American/Filipina American) writer from Tacoma, Washington. She lives with her partner, two kids, and a dog. She likes to bake, especially banana bread and brownies. She collects pens, origami papers, and tote bags from independent bookstores. Her favorite tools for writing are PilotG2 blue pens and composition notebooks, especially Japanese ones. 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 and Elliott Bay Books (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. A two-time VONA Voices fellow, she has also continued her education in writing with Hugo House and the Seventh Wave digital residencies. She has published poetry in Heron Tree, Yellow Arrow Journal, and the Nikkei anthology The Gate of Memory.
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 served as an Affiliate Professor in the School of Urban Studies at the University of Washington, Tacoma from 2021-2023.
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 an award-winning co-written graphic novel, titled We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration (Chin Music Press/Wing Luke Asian Museum, 2021). The book was selected to represent Washington State at the National Book Festival in 2023.
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). She is the lead curator of the digital exhibit, Tacoma Japantown.
Tamiko has created exhibit text for the Wing Luke Asian Museum (which won an award in 2023) and the permanent Tanforan exhibit inside the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) San Bruno station. She is finishing exhibit text for the Western Forest Industries Museum in Mineral, Washington.
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 historic Nihonmachi (Japantown), Robert Mizukami, Rosa Franklin, Kip Tokuda, 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.
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For Tamiko’s oral history, hosted at the UC Berkeley Bancroft Library Oral History Center, click here.