Ho, Minfong, 1951-
Education:
Tunghai University, Taiwan
B.A. (in history and economics), Cornell University, 1973
M.F.A. (creative writing) Cornell University
Minfong Ho was born on January 7, 1951, in Rangoon, Burma. Her father was an economist, and her mother was a chemist and writer. Ho was raised in Thailand and attended school in Bangkok and then in Taiwan. She came to the United States to study economics at Cornell University in New York, where she earned a bachelor's and a master's degree, and where she began her writing career as a way to combat homesickness.
Ho's first book, Sing to the Dawn (1975), received first prize from the Council of Interracial Books for Children. Her second book, Rice Without Rain (1990), received the Parents' Choice Award and was named an American Library Association (ALA) Best Book for Young Adults and an ALA Booklist Editor's Choice.
http://www.uwcsea.edu.sg/head_site/UWCSEA%20TODAY/feb_distinguished_author_visits_uwcs.htmDistinguished Author Visits UWCSEA (United World College of SE Asia, Singapore)
Award-winning author, Minfong Ho, visited UWCSEA on Tuesday 6th February and led discussions with a total of six English/ESL classes. Ho’s novel, Rice Without Rain, is studied by classes in both Grade 8 and 10 and one of her essays is used in the English A2 course.
Minfong Ho has published three novels, numerous short stories and four picture books. Her books have won a variety of awards, including Caldecott Honor, Best Book for Young Adults (American Library Association) and Parents’ Choice Award. She has also received the Southeast Asian Writers Award and Singapore's Cultural Medallion.
Minfong Ho was born in 1951 in Burma of Chinese parents, but grew up in Thailand. After initial university studies in Taiwan she moved to Cornell University, New York where she graduated in Economics and History. She then had a stint as a journalist in Singapore. Back in Thailand, Ho lectured at Chiengmai University and spent time in local villages, an experience that inspired the novel Rice Without Rain. In 1980 she took leave of absence from her teaching job in Ithaca, New York to work as a nutritionist with Cambodian refugees on the Thai border. This gave rise to her novel, The Clay Marble. More recently, she has worked in Laos.
Ho’s multifaceted experience proved a fertile basis for discussion. She is particularly interested in the concept of “Third Culture” – young people who grow up with a mixed heritage and perhaps more than one language, derived not just from parents but also from living in various places. She believes that we all have a “heart” language (for her, Cantonese) which we associate with childhood nurturing and intimacy. Having spent much of her life in Thailand, she regards Thai as the language of her hands: a functional language and, incidentally, one that she associates strongly with food! English, meanwhile, is the language of her head.
Grade 8 and 10 students heard how the novel Rice Without Rain grew out of Ho’s own experience of Thailand’s traumatic history in the mid-seventies. The book describes the massacre of protesting students at Thammasart University in Bangkok, an actual historical event, and includes a character, Sri, who is closely based on one of Ho’s students. Ho revealed that she is currently working on a novel about the experiences of two Chinese brothers who got stranded in Nantucket, USA in 1804. The book contains parallel narratives: the story of a contemporary Chinese-American woman who stumbles upon letters the brothers wrote, and the story that those letters reveal about the men’s tragic lives.
Minfong Ho’s visit to UWCSEA came about in unusual circumstances. ESL teacher, Frankie Meehan, had been studying Rice Without Rain with his Grade 10 class. When he put the teaching materials on his webpage, a friend of the author drew her attention to them. By good fortune, Minfong Ho, who now lives in New York, was planning to visit Singapore and offered to come and talk to the students. We hope she will be able to return again.
Study Guide for The Clay Marble by Minfong Ho
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/pdf/clay_marble.pdf
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/claymarble.html
The Clay Marble by Minfong HoFollowing the brutal execution of her father, a twelve-year-old Cambodian girl named Dara and her family must flee their farm for the safety of a refugee camp on the Thai border. At first, life in the camp is a return to normalcy as new friendships are made and her older brother even falls in love. A Vietnamese bombing of the camp, however, changes everything. Temporarily separated from her family and bereaved of one of her new friends, Dara finds new courage and wisdom as she confronts her brother's militarism and helps persuade family members to return home to the farm.
Ho, Minfong. Maples in the Mist: children’s poems from the Tang Dynasty. Translated by Minfong Ho. Illustrated by Jean and Mou-sien Tseng. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1996. ISBN 0-688-12044-X. 32 pages. (6-12) Poetry.
This book contains an elegant collection of sixteen one verse poems from the Tang Dynasty written over 1,000 years ago. Magnificent realistic watercolor spreads in classic Chinese style provide the backdrop for the nature theme resounding throughout the oversized volume. Chinese frames the illustrations creating a perfect blend of culture
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Ho, Minfong. Hush! : a Thai Lullaby. New York : Orchard Books, c1996.
A lullaby which asks animals such as a lizard, monkey, and water-buffalo to be quiet and not disturb the sleeping baby.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ho, Minfong. Maples in the Mist : Children's Poems From the Tang Dynasty. Illustrated by Jean & Mou-sien Tseng. New York : Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, c1996.
A collection of short poems written over 1000 years ago by such poets of the Tang Dynasty as Li Po, Yin Luan, and Du Mu.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ho, Minfong. Rice Without Rain. New York : Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, c1990.
After social rebels convince the headman of a small village in northern Thailand to resist the land rent, his seventeen-year-old daughter Jinda finds herself caught up in the student uprising in Bangkok.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
