2023 STars hall of fame

Shawna Yang Ryan

Author

Greer & Cowan Fundamental Elementary School | Arcade MS | Mira Loma HS

Shawna Yang Ryan is a former Fulbright scholar and the author of Water Ghosts (Penguin Press 2009) and Green Island (Knopf 2016). From 2017 to 2023, she was the Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, where she is an Associate Professor in the English Department. Her writing has appeared in ZYZZYVA, The Asian American Literary Review, The Rumpus, Lithub, and The Washington Post. Her work has received the Association for Asian American Studies Best Book Award in Creative Writing, the Elliot Cades Emerging Writer award, and an American Book Award.