Bio
Terry Watada is a poet, novelist, short story writer, historian, playwright, columnist, essayist, and music composer. He has published five poetry collections, three novels, a short story collection, two manga, two histories on the Buddhist Church in Canada, and two children’s biographies. Significant titles include Kuroshio: The Blood of Foxes (Arsenal, Vancouver 2007), novel, The Three Pleasures (Anvil Press, Vancouver 2017), novel, The Game of 100 Ghosts (Mawenzi House, Toronto 2014), poetry, and Daruma Days (Ronsdale Press, Vancouver 1997), short stories.
He recently saw the release of a new poetry collection, The Four Sufferings (Mawenzi House, Toronto 2020), and his third novel, Mysterious Dreams of the Dead (Anvil Press, Vancouver 2020).
Crows at Sunset, his sixth poetry collection (unpublished) was a finalist in the 2020 Eyelands International Book Awards (Athens, Greece) in 2020. Hiroshima Bomb Money, his fourth novel, received a $10,000 writer’s grant from the Toronto Arts Council to complete it.
His essays have been published in such varied journals and books as Maclean’s Magazine (March 2011), Canadian Literature(UBC), and Ritsumeikan Hogaku “Kotoba to sonohirogari” (Ritsumeikan University Press, Kyoto Jpn). His work has been much anthologized. Seven of his plays have received mainstage productions, including Vincent, a play examining a tragic confrontation between the police and a schizophrenic out-patient. It was produced for the National Theatre in Ottawa and at the International Madness Festival at Harbourfront, Toronto and Muenster, Germany, to name two.
He is also a theatre producer and music producer. He has produced ten albums, mostly of his own music.
He contributed a monthly column to the Nikkei Voice for twenty-five years. He has written for the Vancouver Bulletin since 2012.
Essays about his work have appeared in the International Journal of Canadian Studies, Modern Drama (UTP), and in Transcultural Reinventions: Asian American and Asian Canadian Short-Story Cycles (TSAR Publications).
For a full description of his work, committee positions and awards, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Watada, a site maintained by the National Association of Japanese Canadians.
TAGS: Literary Arts Performing Arts | children's writing | fiction | manga | Music | non-fiction | Ontario | Poetry | theatre | Vancouver Bulletin Geppo
