Shawna Yang Ryan, an associate professor of English and director of the creative writing program at the University of Hawaii Manoa, has been selected to received the American Book award from the Before Columbus Foundation.
Ryan is being honored for her novel Green Island (Alfred A. Knopf, 2016). The book tells a story of love, betrayal and family set against the backdrop of a changing Taiwan over the course of the 20th century.
“Writing a novel, you spend so much time toiling away inside of your own dreamed world, and you never know how the outside world will respond to that imagined place when the book is published,” said Ryan. “Being recognized by the same award that has gone to so many writers that I deeply admire is such an incredible, incredible honor.”
Before joining the faculty at the University of Hawaii, Ryan taught at City College of San Francisco for seven years. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master’s degree from the University of California, Davis.