Emily Masuda is a second-year MFA student in Creative Writing at the University of California, Davis. Before going back to school to focus on her writing, Emily taught English at high schools in Winters, California, and Gifu, Japan. She writes fiction and is working on a historical novel for her thesis. She is interested in preserving stories of immigration, assimilation, and biculturalism through writing—in particular, documenting as authentically as possible the experience of Japanese Americans. One of her current writing projects is about the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony located outside of Placerville; she received the Margrit Mondavi Summer Fellowship in 2022 to research the colony’s history. Outside of school, Emily co-directs Stories on Stage Davis, a non-profit literary series in its ninth season. In her free time, you can find her reading, hiking in the mountains, or baking sourdough bread. Emily plans to become a university or public librarian in the coming years. 

Currently Teaching: 

ENL 5F (Winter 2023 & Spring 2023)

Publications:

“Trying,” The First Line, 23.4, Winter 2021

“Hear the stories of best-selling author and student contest winner,” Davis Enterprise, April 2021

“Fall Seasonal Foods,” The Japan Times, 2019

“Chisako Higashiya and Her Annual JET-Family Thanksgiving,” AJET Connect Magazine, 2018