She is the first of six children born to a gambling house owner in Stockton, California. She is currently a senior lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley where she graduated with an A.B in 1962.
Her works often relfect on her cultural heritage and blend fiction with non-fiction. Among her works are The Woman Warrior (1976), awarded the National Book Critics Award for Nonfiction, and China Men (1980), given the same award. She has written one novel, Tripmaster Monkey, a story depicting a character based on the mythical Chinese character Son Wu Kong. Her most recent books are To Be The Poet and The Fifth Book of Peace.
She was awarded the 1997 National Humanities Medal by President Bill Clinton. Kingston was a member of the committee to choose the design for the California commemorative quarter. She was arrested in March 2003 in Washington, D.C., for crossing a police line during a protest against the war in Iraq.
She is married to Earll Kingston. They live in Oakland and have one child, Joseph Lawrence Chung Mei, born in 1964.
Other Chinese American writers: