Maxine Hong Kingston

Maxine Hong Kingston was born in 1940 in Stockton, California. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, married fellow student and actor Earll Kingston, and became a pioneering, celebrated Chinese American author of three major novels: "The Woman Warrior," "China Men" and "Tripmaster Monkey." In 1990 she was profiled in a PBS biography, "Maxine Hong Kingston: Talking Story." A feminist and anti-war activist, Kingston has appeared in I Know a Woman Like That (2009), Peace Is Every Step: Meditation in Action: The Life and Work of Thich Nhat Hanh (1998) and The West (1996). Kingston was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Obama in 2013.