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Linda Watanabe McFerrin and The Legacy Book: A Look Back This past week we've spent looking at Linda Watanabe McFerrin's literary breadth; she's read poetry for us, shared stories from Japan, where she grew up, taken us to the world of Namako: Sea Cucumber, served us a sensual Italian feast in English, and guided us through the streets of her own home, San Francisco. In a lot of ways we've been looking back on these wonderful pieces by Linda, pulling them from piles and old publications--from a harddrive or two perhaps. After all, a Legacy book is designed to be backwards-looking. That is: … [Read more...]

Linda Watanabe McFerrin reads "Noche de los Muertos" McFerrin is adept at describing the concerns of women of various ethnic backgrounds, from different geographic regions of America and showing that despite race, country of origin, or physical location, some feelings and difficulties are universal. Elizabeth Millard "Tonight we remember, we make room for the dead. Tonight, they are among us." Linda Watanabe McFerrin, consummate traveler, didn't have to stray too far from home to experience this San Franciscan tradition. As a resident of the Bay Area she could hardly have avoided it. … [Read more...]

Hear Linda read from her YA novel Namako: Sea Cucumber Namako is a novel about a child’s virgin dance with the truth with lies and secrets. Each new violation of trust is like a footprint on the tundra, refining the way the child walks through life. Los Angeles Times Namako: Sea Cucumber may be classified (or hastily genre-fied) as a Young Adult Novel, but it sure doesn't pull any punches. Namako is a coming-of-age story set in a defiantly real world. In it, the naive and small universe of the child is conquered by a reality in turns sublime and beautiful, horrific and wondrous. These young, … [Read more...]

Linda Watanabe McFerrin reads her poem "Sakura no Sono" Rare is the writer that I know who has created her own genre… Linda writes with such verisimilitude that you’ll never have to leave home again. Perry Garfinkel Having grown up in Japan, Linda Watanabe McFerrin's poetry can often seem kindred to that of the great annalists of the cherry blossom. She is calm, observant, nature-focused, a perfecter of the line, with a tight guard on syllable count and an ear for economy. The brilliance of her visceral calm and her sense, as a travel writer, of the construction of place, come through … [Read more...]

Linda Watanabe McFerrin reads "On Pleasures Oral" McFerrin’s writing is strong and beautiful, almost like poetry, and the result is provocative, sometimes humorous, and always colorful. Library Journal Yesterday we explored the playful and experimental side of Linda Watanabe McFerrin's vivacious poetry with "Speaking in Tongues." Today we move on through her literary abîmes into territory quite different, not for lack of lyrical wordplay, but because as you will hear, feel, taste, and smell, "On Pleasures Oral" is a veritable feast of vivid, sensual description. The subtleties exist here in … [Read more...]