Patti Kameya
I am a writer, editor, historian, teaching artist, and occasional comedy performer in the Dakota homeland of Saint Paul, Minnesota. My great-grandparents were Okinawan and Japanese sugar plantation laborers in Hawaiʻi. After growing up in Massachusetts and California suburbs, I lived in Japan for six years, and I’ve been based in the Midwest since 1997.
Before starting my literary arts-centered life, I taught world history and East Asian history for over ten years in Midwestern universities. Arguably, those jobs introduced me to both storytelling and comedy performance. They also sparked my interest in connecting stories across time and place from history lectures to my current writing projects.
After leaving academia, I took creative writing classes at the Loft Literary Center, volunteered as a literacy tutor, and earned a copyediting certificate at UCSD Extended Studies. These experiences broadened my involvement in arts and activism. I volunteer with the education committee of the Japanese American Citizens League and perform comedy with the Funny Asian Women Kollective. Other than that, I like to visit art museums, forage garden weeds, and figure out how to make LEGO structures that stay together.
Patti Kameya 