About...

Wendy Nelson Tokunaga’s short stories have appeared in The Abiko Literary Quarterly Review, The Plaza, The Timberlake Review, and Yomimono, among others.

She is the author of the novel, No Kidding (a winner in the 2002 Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards). Her two children’s nonfiction books are Famous People: Christina Aguilera and Wonders of the World: Niagara Falls, published by Kid Haven Press. She is currently attending the MFA in Creative Writing program at the University of San Francisco.

Born in San Francisco, Wendy has lived her whole life in the San Francisco Bay Area (except for a stint in Tokyo in the 1980s). She lives with her Osaka-born surfer dude husband Manabu Tokunaga, several virtual West Highland white terriers, and a visiting chocolate Burmese cat, in a house that is a ten-minute walk from the Pacific Ocean. Wendy and Manabu were the founders of the award-winning GEnie Japan Round Table Forum discussion board that ran from 1989 - 1994. They also perform as the jazz duo Star Jazzmin with Wendy on vocals and Manabu on keyboards, making only rare public appearances at a select group of exclusive parties. However, if you stand in front of their house most any evening, you'll probably hear them practicing.

Wendy is also a Japanese karaoke singer of some renown (singing both j-pop and enka), having won awards in a number of competitions. She most recently was a finalist on NHK’s Nodo Jiman singing contest in 2002 where she performed at San Francisco's Civic Auditorium in a concert that was broadcast live by satellite all over the world. In a previous life she sang, played bass, and was chief songwriter in a number of rock and new wave bands. Her first of many trips to Japan was as a winner in the JVC Victor Original Song Contest held at Nakano Sun Plaza in Tokyo.