Gail Tsukiyama is one of the most respected writers of our time, with novels that honor her Chinese-Japanese heritage and the quiet strength of independent women struggling to survive under poverty, family abandonment, and foreign domination in Women of the Silk, The Language of Threads, The Samurai’s Garden and Night of Many Dreams. Her long awaited novel, A Street of a Thousand Blossoms, is due in September 2007 and Women & Words is proud to be included into Ms. Tsukiyama’s book tour. Her first novel, Women of the Silk, launched her successful writing life, winning her a prestigious Academy of American Poets award. She also writes short stories, many of which have been translated into various languages throughout the world.   A resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, she has been a part-time lecturer in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University, as well as a freelance book reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle. She was one of nin fiction authors to appear during the first Library of Congress National Book Festival.