What I Would Ask My Husband's Dead Father (Author Biography)

Author Biography

Sharon Hashimoto was born on October 23, 1953, in Seattle, Washington. She has lived all her life in the Pacific Northwest. She holds two bachelor degrees, one in modern European history and the other in editorial journalism, both from the University of Washington. In 1990, Hashimoto also received a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from the University of Washington.

Hashimoto was encouraged to pursue an interest in poetry by many other writers such as Nelson Bentley, Lonny Kaneko, Alan Chong Lau, and James Masao Mitsui. Enjoying the challenges of wordplay and imagery, she seeks to capture small but important moments in everyday life.

In 1989, while still in graduate school, where she was studying with Colleen McElroy, David Wagoner, and Shawn Wong, Hashimoto's poetry was awarded a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Hashimoto also studied fiction writing. Her poems have appeared in such publications as Poetry, The American Scholar, the Seattle Review, Shenandoah, and Asian Pacific American Journal. Hashimoto has been awarded grants from the King County Arts Commission, and Artist Trust.

In 1992, Brooding Heron Press published a limited edition chapbook of Hashimoto's poems entitled Reparations. In 2003, her first full-length poetry collection, The Crane Wife, was published by Story Line Press. It included the poem "What I Would Ask My Husband's Dead Father." The Crane Wife was co-winner of the 16th annual Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize for a first full-length collection of poetry.

Since 1990, Hashimoto has been an instructor of Literature and Writing at Highline Community College in Des Moines, Washington.