After her parents divorced, Janice was brought back to a chicken farm at
Petaluma, California, with her mother, where they would be near the remainder of their family. During the time that followed, Janice became the victim of
sexual molestation by her step-father up to the age of sixteen,[7] and was saved from suicide only by the love and care of her grandmother. She would later speak of the pain of her
incestuous abuse through her poetry.[8]
Mirikitani attended
UCLA, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. During this time, she struggled with her ethnic identity, which she would later portray through her poetry. After gaining her teaching credentials, she taught in the Contra Costa School District for a year. She worked at
Glide Memorial Church in the
Tenderloin district of
San Francisco as an administrative assistant.[8] She then entered graduate school for creative writing at
San Francisco State University, but later discontinued her studies.[6]
Political activities
After participating in the
Asian American Political Alliance, she joined
Third World Communications.[6] She later co-founded and edited Aion – regarded as the first Asian American literary magazine – which published just two issues in 1970 before folding.[9][10] She edited two anthologies for Third World Communications: Third World Women (1972) and Time to Greez! Incantations from the Third World (1975). Mirikitani then became project director for Ayumi: A Japanese American Anthology (1980).[8]
After two years of activism for Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in 1969 she became the program director. In 1982 Mirikitani married
Cecil Williams, who was pastor of the church. That same year she was chosen as the president of the Glide Foundation, where she was responsible for fund raising and budget oversight. She was named the second poet laureate for the city of San Francisco in 2000, and she served in that role for two years. The
California State Assembly named her "Woman of the Year" for the 17th Assembly District.[5][11][12]
Personal life
Mirikitani had one child (Tianne Miller) from her first marriage.[2] One of her cousins was the painter,
Jimmy Mirikitani.[13][14]
Mirikitani died on the morning of July 29, 2021, at the age of 80.[4][15] The cause of death was cancer.[16]
Mirikitani, Janice (2001). Love Works. City Lights Foundation Books, San Francisco Poet Laureates. City Lights Foundation Books.
ISBN9781931404020.[17]
Williams, Cecil; Mirikitani, Janice (2013). Beyond the Possible: 50 Years of Creating Radical Change in a Community Called Glide.
Dave Eggers (Forward). Harper Collins.
ISBN9780062105059.[17]
^Madsen, Deborah L. (2005). Asian American writers. Dictionary of literary biography: Asian American writers. Vol. 312, A Bruccoli Clark Layman book. Thomson Gale. p. 227.
ISBN0-7876-8130-X.
^Nelson, Emmanuel Sampath (2005). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature: I - M. Vol. 3. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 1503.
ISBN0-313-33062-X.