Jane Jeong Trenka
Encyclopedia
Jane Jeong Trenka is an activist and an award winning writer.
Trenka is the president of the organization: Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea.
, Korea
. In 1972, Trenka and her sister were adopted into a white family in rural northern Minnesota
. In 2004, she returned to live in Korea where she became an activist for standard and transparent adoption practices to protect the human rights of adult adoptees, children, and families. She reunited with her birth family in Korea
in 1995.
Trenka is the president of the organization: Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea.
Biography
Jane Jeong Trenka was born in SeoulSeoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
. In 1972, Trenka and her sister were adopted into a white family in rural northern Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. In 2004, she returned to live in Korea where she became an activist for standard and transparent adoption practices to protect the human rights of adult adoptees, children, and families. She reunited with her birth family in Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
in 1995.
Books
- The Language of Blood, Graywolf Press, 2005
- Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption, South End PressSouth End PressSouth End Press is a non-profit book publisher run on a model of participatory economics. It was founded in 1977 by Michael Albert, Lydia Sargent, John Schall, Pat Walker, Juliet Schor, Mary Lea, Joe Bowring, and Dave Millikan, among others, in Boston's South End...
, 2006 - Fugitive Visions: An Adoptee's Return to Korea, Graywolf Press, 2009
Awards
- Minnesota Book Award for Autobiography/Memoir for The Language of Blood
- Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection for The Language of Blood