Editing Maxine Hong Kingston (section)

==Life and career==
Kingston was born Maxine Ting Ting Hong on October 27, 1940, in [[Stockton, California]], to first-generation [[Chinese immigrants]] parents: her father, Tom Hong (d. 1991)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XOGdnCPJSOMC&dq=%22Chew+Ying+Lan%22&pg=PA279|title = Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women|isbn = 9780765607980|last1 = Lee|first1 = Lily Xiao Hong|last2 = Stefanowska|first2 = A. D.|last3 = Wiles|first3 = Sue|year = 1998| publisher=M.E. Sharpe }}</ref> and her mother, Ying Lan Chew.<ref name=":0">{{Cite magazine |last=Hsu |first=Hua |date=2020-06-01 |title=Maxine Hong Kingston's Genre-Defying Life and Work |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/08/maxine-hong-kingstons-genre-defying-life-and-work |access-date=2024-10-27 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}</ref> She was the third of eight children and the oldest of the six born in the United States.

In [[China]], Tom Hong worked as a professional scholar and teacher in his home village of [[Xinhui|Sun Woi]], near [[Guangzhou|Canton]]. In 1925, Hong left China for the United States in search of better prospects. However, the [[Chinese Exclusion Act]] of 1882—a xenophobic response to the influx of Chinese workers in the nineteenth century—was still in effect, preventing Hong from legally entering the United States. He attempted to enter from Cuba twice before finally succeeding in 1927.<ref name=":0" />

Furthermore, early-twentieth-century U.S. employment laws were rife with racism, leaving little interest in hiring a well-educated Chinese immigrant. Hong had been a scholar in his home village of Sun Woi, near [[Canton, China|Canton]].<ref name=":0" /> However, in America, Hong was limited to working menial jobs - washing windows and doing laundry.<ref name=":0" /> He saved his earnings and became the manager of an illegal gambling house, which led him to get arrested numerous times. Hong "was canny about his arrests, never giving his real name and—because he apparently sensed that quite a few people thought that all Chinese looked alike—inventing a different name for each arrest. Consequently, he never acquired a police record in his own name."<ref>Huntley, p. 4.</ref> Hong was able to bring his wife over in 1939.<ref name=":0" /> During the fifteen years they were separated, Kingston's mother, Chew, had studied Western medicine and become a doctor.<ref name=":0" /> Yet in Stockton, she was just another immigrant. 

Shortly thereafter, Kingston was born; she was named "Maxine" after a blonde patron at the gambling house who was always remarkably lucky.<ref name="huntley" /> Kingston, a quiet child, didn’t learn English until age five. She recalls an I.Q. test once recording her score as zero.<ref name=":0" /> Asked to paint a picture for class, she presented a black sheet, representing stage curtains before a show. Her earliest memories are of World War II—cousins in uniform. Fascinated by war and soldiers, she grew up hearing her mother recount China's history as a continuous cycle of conquest and conflict: “We were always losers. We were always on the run.”<ref name=":0" /> 

[[File:Portrait of Maxine Hong Kingston in c. 1976.jpg|thumb|Kingston {{circa|1976}}]]
At a young age, Kingston was drawn to writing and won a five-dollar prize from ''Girl Scout Magazine'' for an essay she wrote titled "I Am an American". She majored in [[engineering]] at [[University of California, Berkeley]], before switching to [[English studies|English]]. She met her husband, actor Earll Kingston, while they were both students at [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]], and they married in 1962. Kingston then began her career as a high school teacher.<ref name=":0" />

Their son, Joseph Lawrence Chung Mei, was born in 1963. From 1965 to 1967, Maxine taught English and mathematics at [[Sunset High School (Hayward, California)|Sunset High School]] in [[Hayward, California]].<ref name="eNotes" /> After relocating to [[Hawaii]], her boredom in a lonely hotel 80 miles north of Oahu caused Maxine to begin writing extensively, finally completing and publishing her first book, ''The Woman Warrior: Memoir of a Girlhood Among Ghosts'', in 1976. She began teaching English at the [[University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa]] that same year. By 1981 she had moved on to teach at Berkeley.<ref>{{cite web |title=Maxine Hong Kingston |url=http://www2.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/canam/kingston.htm |publisher=[[University of North Carolina at Pembroke]] |access-date=30 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150408001505/http://www2.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/canam/kingston.htm |archive-date=8 April 2015 }}</ref>

Her writing often reflects on her cultural heritage and blends fiction with non-fiction. Among her works are ''[[The Woman Warrior]]'' (1976), awarded the [[National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction]], and ''[[China Men]]'' (1980), awarded the [[National Book Award for Nonfiction]].<ref name=nba1981 /> She has written one novel, ''[[Tripmaster Monkey]],'' a story depicting a protagonist based on the mythical Chinese character [[Sun Wu Kong]]. Subsequent books include ''[[To Be the Poet]]'' and ''[[The Fifth Book of Peace]].''

A public television documentary produced by Joan Saffa, Stephen Talbot and Gayle K. Yamada, ''Maxine Hong Kingston: Talking Story,'' was released in 1990. Narrated by actor B.D. Wong and featuring notable Asian-American authors such as [[Amy Tan]] and [[David Henry Hwang]], it explored Kingston's life, paying particular attention to her commentary on cultural heritage and both sexual and racial oppression. The production was awarded the CINE Golden Eagle in 1990.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cine.org/golden-eagle-archive.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211061306/http://www.cine.org/golden-eagle-archive.php |url-status=dead |title=CINE Golden Eagle Award Archives|archive-date=February 11, 2009}}</ref> Kingston also participated in the production of [[Bill Moyers]]' PBS historical documentary, ''Becoming American: The Chinese Experience''.

Kingston was awarded the 1997 [[National Humanities Medal]] by [[President of the United States]] [[Bill Clinton]]. She was a member of the committee to choose the design for the [[California]] commemorative quarter.

In 2003, Kingston was arrested in Washington, D.C. while [[Protests against the Iraq War|protesting against the impending Iraq War]]. The protest, which took place on [[International Women's Day]] (March 8), was coordinated by the women-initiated organization [[Code Pink]]. Kingston refused to leave the street after being instructed to do so by local police forces. She shared a jail cell with authors [[Alice Walker]] and [[Terry Tempest Williams]], who were also participants in the demonstration. Kingston's anti-war stance has significantly trickled into her work; she has stated that writing ''The Fifth Book of Peace'' was initiated and inspired by growing up during [[World War II]].

Kingston was honored as a 175th Speaker Series writer at [[Emma Willard School]] in September 2005.  In April, 2007, Kingston was awarded the Northern California Book Award Special Award in Publishing for ''Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace'' (2006), an anthology which she edited.

In July, 2014, Kingston was awarded the 2013 [[National Medal of Arts]] by [[President of the United States]] [[Barack Obama]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.arts.gov/honors/medals/maxine-hong-kingston|title=National Medal of Arts – Maxine Hong Kingston|website=National Endowment for the Arts|access-date=February 1, 2017}}</ref> In Spring 2023, Kingston was awarded the [[Emerson-Thoreau Medal]] for distinguished achievement in the field of literature by the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.amacad.org/news/maxine-hong-kingston-literature-medal | title=Maxine Hong Kingston Awarded Literature Medal | date=2 April 2023 }}</ref>

She currently resides in Oakland, California where she is retired and maintains her garden.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Guthrie |first=Julian |date=January 23, 2011 |title=Maxine Hong Kingston embarks on new life chapter |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/maxine-hong-kingston-embarks-on-new-life-chapter-2478664.php |access-date=January 14, 2024 |website=SFGate.com}}</ref>