The author of seven novels, Gail Tsukiyama has spoken all over the US and abroad at colleges and universities, book festivals and conferences, and corporate luncheons and fundraising events. In September of 2001, she was one of fifty authors chosen by the Library of Congress to participate in the first National Book Festival in Washington D.C. and has been guest speaker at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, the Sydney Writers’ Festival, and the Toronto and Vancouver International Writers’ Festival. She has been the recipient of the Academy of American Poets Award and the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Literary Excellence. She is also the first author to receive the Asia Pacific Leadership Award from the Center of the Pacific Rim and the Ricci Institute.