Teri Shaffer Yamada

Teri Shaffer Yamada (1949-) was born in Santa Monica, California. She holds an M.A. in Southeast Asian Languages and Literatures and a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from U.C. Berkeley. She lived in Tokyo, Japan for six years and upon returning to Los Angeles in 1987 served as the translator for Zen Master Sasaki Roshi for over a year. She is currently the Chair of the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies at CSU Long Beach, where she serves as the faculty mentor for the Cambodian Student Society (CSS). Her first two books—"Virtual Lotus" and "Modern Short Fiction of Southeast Asia"—both received Choice Outstanding Book Awards. These two volumes establish the literary field of an interconnected Southeast Asia. In 2002 she co-founded the Nou Hach Literary Association, an NGO in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to support creative writers and poets there. This association currently publishes the only literary journal in Cambodia (nouhachjournal.net). Her second two books—"'Just a Human Being' and other Tales from Contemporary Cambodia'" and "Modern Cambodian Literature: Transnational Voices of Transformation" contain English translations of the award winning fiction and poetry from that journal. For a recent interview on "'Just a Human Being'..." see "Life and Times in Cambodia" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fptbfihu16Y)." She typically travels to Cambodia twice a year to work with young writers and the Nou Hach Literary Association. Her other interests in Southeast Asia include casino capitalism and the implications of rapid development on the social and physical environment.