Eve Kushner is a freelance writer in Berkeley, California. Her book Crazy for Kanji: A Student's Guide to the Wonderful World of Japanese Characters has just come out and is available for purchase on Amazon. Eve's first book, Experiencing Abortion: A Weaving of Women's Words, came out in 1997 from Harrington Park Press.

Eve writes many types of articles, including profiles, feature articles, book reviews, personal essays, how-to articles, and social commentary. She's open to exploring all sorts of things, but she most enjoys writing about:

• The Japanese language and writing system
• People with fascinating passions and visions
• Innovative and environmentally sensitive architecture

In the past, she has written about the following interests:

• Reproductive issues
• Movies
• Writing technique
• Personal experiences
• Food

Eve has published 258 articles in 32 markets. (Writers are like baseball fans with their love of statistics!) She often writes for the San Francisco Chronicle and the East Bay Monthly. She also writes Kanji Curiosity, a weekly blog about kanji, for JapanesePod101.com. For more on her background, see About Eve.

What's New

June 2009

My book, Crazy for Kanji: A Student's Guide to the Wonderful World of Japanese Characters, is available on Amazon.

Order Now on Amazon

Some upcoming Crazy events:

• July 6, 5–6 p.m., Soko Gakuen, San Francisco.
• July 8, 5–6 p.m., Soko Gakuen, San Francisco.
• July 11, noon–1 p.m., Soko Gakuen, San Francisco.
• August 2, 10 a.m.–1 p.m., Asian Art Museum, San Francisco.
• August 27, 7:30 p.m., East West Bookstore, Mountain View.

Click here for details on all events, past and present.

Here are a few more Crazy for Kanji links:

• Podcasts of NPR interviews
• A peek at the very detailed Table of Contents and at sample pages
• What people are saying about the book

If that doesn't satisfy your curiosity, here's a whole page of information about the book!

My latest Kanji Curiosity blog for JapanesePod101.com appeared on June 26.

I also write about things other than kanji. On the 4th Thursday of every month, I have an article in "96 Hours" about fun things to do with kids. "96 Hours" is the San Francisco Chronicle guide to weekend events. My June article is about a printmaking workshop in Oakland that accompanies an exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints about the Kanto earthquake.

As for forthcoming work, I have a big project in the planning stages. It has to do with kanji (big shock!), and it's with JapanesePod101.com. But the details will remain top-secret until the official launch, which should be happening soon!

 

A Sampling of Articles on This Site

• "The Way of Kanji"
  The East Bay Monthly published Eve's essay on kanji as her path to serenity. You can download this essay as a PDF.
• "The Greater Goods: East Bay Companies Live by the Triple Bottom Line: Profits, the Planet and People"
  This feature story about an inspiring new sector of the economy ran in the East Bay Monthly. Don't miss the five profiles posted on their own pages. (See the red links on the right-hand side of the main page.) The business world was uncharted territory for Eve, but the article fit with her longtime interest in profiling people with passions, visions, and missions. Susan H. Mac Cormac's InSight magazine article "The Emergence of New Corporate Forms" references "The Greater Goods."
• "Building Blocks: Coordinating Contractors and Other Disasters"
  This two-parter ran on the cover of the San Francisco Chronicle's "Home & Garden" section in November 2003. It has attracted more attention than perhaps anything else Eve has written. Don't miss Part Two, which is posted on its own page.
• "Life Ahead of the Curve"
  A profile of visionary architect Dan Liebermann, whose houses abound with curves and salvaged materials. This ran on the cover of the San Francisco Chronicle's "Home & Garden" section in July 2003. Don't miss the accompanying sidebar about a colony Liebermann has built.
• "Artist Loves Chanciness"
  A profile of papermaker Linda Lemon, who lets randomness control her artistic process. This ran inside the San Francisco Chronicle's regional section in May 2002.
• "Go Forth and Multiply: Abortion in Hollywood Movies of the '90s"
  On abortion in Hollywood movies. This article originally appeared in Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture. Now the piece has achieved eternal life on the site of Bright Lights Film Journal. That's where the article link will take you. The article has also been reprinted in ProQuest Information and Learning, an educational database. In spring 2006, the article was recommended as side reading in a Rutgers University course, "Current Moral and Social Issues." And in summer 2007, the article was quoted extensively in a piece by the Alliance of Women Film Journalists. Finally, after a Newsweek editor saw the article, she interviewed Eve and quoted her in a December 2007 article about the movie Juno.
• "Beagleman"
  This has to do with Eve's dog, her husband, and a man they met every night for years. The piece appeared in the East Bay Monthly.