Joy Kogawa was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1935 and graduated from high school in Coaldale, Alberta where her family was sent after WWII.
Kogawa was made a Member of the Order of Canada. From 1983 to 1985, she worked with the National Association of Japanese Canadians to help those Japanese who had lost their land and possesions under the War Measures Act in 1942. Kogawa went on to study education at the University of Alberta and taught elementary school in Coaldale for a year. She then studied music at the University of Toronto followed by studies at the Anglican Women's Training College and the University of Saskatchewan.
Kogawa has won awards for her book Obasan, including the Books in Canada, First Novel Award, the Canadian Authors Association, Book of the Year Award, the Periodical Distributors of Canada, Best Paperback Fiction Award, the Before Columbus Foundation, and The American Book Award
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