James Masao Mitsui

Born to Japanese immigrants in Skykomish, Washington, James Masao Mitsui lived in California for a year when, during World War II, the government forced his family to relocate there. He and his family were eventually allowed to return to Lamona, Washington, where Mitsui grew up. He earned a BA from Eastern Washington University and a BA and an MA from the University of Washington. Mitsui writes about families, immigration and relocation, and Japanese American identity. He has noted William Carlos Williams, James Wright, and Pablo Neruda as influences.

Mitsui is the author of From a Three-Cornered World: New and Selected Poems (1997); After the Long Train Poems (1983); Crossing the Phantom River (1978); and Journal of the Sun (1974), winner of a Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award. He also edited the contemporary poetry anthology Measuring Twine: Poetry with Strings Attached (2012). A recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, he has taught in high schools and at the Shemer Art Center, Arizona State University, Southern New Hampshire University, and Rio Salado College.