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Sequoia Nagamatsu

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Sequoia Nagamatsu
EducationPinewood School, Los Altos
Grinnell College (BA)
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale (MFA)
Occupations
  • Novelist
  • short story writer
  • professor
SpouseCole Nagamatsu
Writing career
Genrespeculative fiction
Notable workHow High We Go in the Dark (2022)
Websitewww.sequoianagamatsu.com

Sequoia Nagamatsu[1] is an American novelist, short story writer, and professor. He is the author of the novel How High We Go in the Dark and the award-winning short story collection Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone.

Early life and education

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Nagamatsu is originally from Oahu, Hawaii and the San Francisco Bay Area.[2] He attended Pinewood School, a private high school in Los Altos Hills, where he began his love of creative writing.[3] He received a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Grinnell College in 2004.[4] He later received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.[5][4]

Career

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Nagamatsu was formerly the managing editor of Psychopomp Magazine alongside his wife, Cole Nagamatsu.[4]

His work has appeared in such publications as Conjunctions, The Southern Review, ZYZZYVA, The Bellevue Literary Review, Black Warrior Review, The Fairy Tale Review, The Iowa Review, Lightspeed Magazine, and Tin House.[6][7][8]

He previously taught at the College of Idaho, Southern Illinois University, and the Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing.[2] Nagamatsu is currently an associate professor of English at St. Olaf College, where he teaches first-year writing and creative writing courses.[9] He also teaches for the Rainier Writers Workshop Low-Residency MFA Program at Pacific Lutheran University located in Tacoma, Washington.[10]

His short story collection, Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone, was published by Black Lawrence Press in May 2016. The collection received positive reviews from Booklist,[11] BuzzFeed,[12] Strange Horizons,[13] The Rumpus,[14] and Green Mountains Review.[15]

The collection received the following accolades:

  • Foreword Reviews Indie Book of the Year Silver Medal winner: Short Stories (Adult Fiction) (2016)[16]
  • Foreword Reviews Indie Book of the Year finalist: Multicultural (Adult Fiction) (2016)[16]
  • Entropy Magazine Best Books of 2016[17]

Nagamatsu's debut novel, How High We Go in the Dark, was published in 2022 by William Morrow. The novel became a National Bestseller and a New York Times Editors’ Choice.[18][19] It was longlisted for the 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal, and was a finalist for the 2022 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize and the 2023 Locus Award for First Novel.[20][21][22]

Personal life

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He currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife, Cole Nagamatsu, their cat, Kalahira, a dog Fenris, and a Sony Aibo robotic dog named Calvino.[5]

Nagamatsu has Japanese roots and lived in Niigata City, Japan for about two years prior to attending graduate school.[6]

Publications

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Collections

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  • Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone. Black Lawrence Press. 2016. ISBN 9781625571366.

Novels

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Selected short stories

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  • "Grave Friends," published Fall 2020 in The Iowa Review[23]
  • "Elegy Hotel," published Spring 2020 in The Southern Review[24]
  • "The Songs of Your Decay," published April 27, 2016 by Day One
  • "Where We Go When All We Were is Gone," published May 15, 2015 in Green Mountain Reviews[25]
  • "The Return to Monsterland," published in Conjunctions,[7] then reprinted September 3, 2015 in Joyland[26]
  • "Headwater LLC," published December 31st 2014 in Lightspeed, then republished July 26, 2016 in The Museum of All Things Awesome and that Go Boom[27]
  • "Placentophagy," published November 21, 2014 in Tin House[28]
  • "Melancholy Nights in a Tokyo Cyber Cafe," published May 1, 2009 in One World: A Global Anthology of Short Stories[29]

References

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  1. ↑ "Professor's Pandemic Themed Debut Novel Generates Media Buzz". St. Olaf College. January 18, 2022. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  2. 1 2 "About Us". Psychopomp Magazine. 2013-08-17. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  3. ↑ Berry, Michael. "How a fictional plague helped Sequoia Nagamatsu overcome grief". www.paloaltoonline.com. Retrieved 2022-08-10.
  4. 1 2 3 "Interview With an Author: Sequoia Nagamatsu". Los Angeles Public Library. Retrieved 2026-05-29.
  5. 1 2 "Sequoia Nagamatsu". Goodreads. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  6. 1 2 "Sequoia Nagamatsu: On Death Economics, Fostering Strong Literary Communities, Bending Genres, and His Debut Novel 'How High We Go in the Dark'". writeordiemag.com. Retrieved 2026-05-29.
  7. 1 2 Nagamatsu, Sequoia (2015). "The Return to Monsterland". Conjunctions (64): 182–194. ISSN 0278-2324. JSTOR 24517333.
  8. ↑ "Sequoia Nagamatsu, Black Lawrence Press". blacklawrencepress.com. Retrieved 2026-05-29.
  9. ↑ "Sequoia Nagamatsu's profile". St. Olaf College. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  10. ↑ "Faculty | MFA - Creative Writing | PLU". www.plu.edu. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  11. ↑ Hong, Terry (June 6, 2016). "Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone". Booklist. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  12. ↑ "19 Amazing Books That Prove Indie Presses Deserve Your Attention". BuzzFeed News. 8 May 2019. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  13. ↑ Chan, Stephanie (2017-04-10). "Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone by Sequoia Nagamatsu". Strange Horizons. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  14. ↑ Burgess, Claire (2016-05-06). "This Week in Short Fiction". The Rumpus.net. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  15. ↑ Mesnard, Natalie (2016-12-29). "Review of WHERE WE GO WHEN ALL WE WERE IS GONE by Sequoia Nagamatsu". Green Mountains Review. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  16. 1 2 ""Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone" is a 2016 Foreword INDIES Winner". Foreword Reviews. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  17. ↑ "Best of 2016: Best Fiction Books". Entropy. 2016-12-02. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  18. ↑ "How High We Go in the Dark". Goodreads. Retrieved 2026-05-29.
  19. ↑ "How High We Go in the Dark". HarperCollins. Retrieved 2026-05-29.
  20. ↑ "2023 Winners Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence". American Library Association.
  21. ↑ Michael Schaub. "Winner of the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize is Revealed". Kirkus Reviews.
  22. ↑ "2023 Locus Awards Winners". locusmag.com. Retrieved 2026-05-29.
  23. ↑ Nagamatsu, Sequoia (Fall 2020). "Grave Friends". The Iowa Review. 50 (2).
  24. ↑ Nagamatsu, Sequoia (Spring 2020). "Elegy Hotel". Southern Review. 56 (2). Louisiana State University Press: 243–255 – via Project MUSE.
  25. ↑ Nagamatsu, Sequoia (2015-05-15). "Where We Go When All We Were is Gone". Green Mountains Review. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  26. ↑ Nagamatsu, Sequoia (September 3, 2015). "The Return to Monsterland". JOYLAND. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  27. ↑ Museum of all things awesome and that go boom. Upper Rubber Boot Books. 2016. ISBN 978-1-937794-47-7. OCLC 978562235.
  28. ↑ Nagamatsu, Sequoia (2014-11-21). "Placentophagy". Tin House. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  29. ↑ One world : a global anthology of short stories. Chris Brazier, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jhumpa Lahiri. Oxford. 2009. ISBN 978-1-906523-13-8. OCLC 298600484.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
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