Brian Tashima

Brian Tashima was born and raised in Hawaii and has been a resident of Vancouver, Washington since 2000. Brian is an author, singer, songwriter, guitarist, screenwriter, and philanthropist. He’s also the dad to two awesome children, including a son on the autism spectrum. He currently works for Windstream as a Pricing Analyst.

Brian has won a Hoku award (Hawaii’s version of the Grammys) and has had his music featured in short films, international compilations, and numerous other forms of media. He is currently a member of SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators), Willamette Writers, Northwest Independent Writers Association, and local rock band Second Player Score.

Brian is author of The Joel Suzuki Series, a young adult science fiction/fantasy series coming-of-age story about a teenage boy whose autism is the source of his magic. The first book in the series, Secret of the Songshell, was a finalist in the 2012 USA Best Book Awards for fantasy fiction. Other books in the series include Mystery of the Moonfire (2015), Legend of the Loudstone (2017), Fable of the Fatewave (2019), Ballad of the Bluerock (2020), Dance of the Darkeye (2022) and Vision of the Virtuoso (2023). He is also the author of the manga-style comic book series Glorified.

Brian joined the Autism Empowerment Board of Directors in 2013 after being a great supporter of the nonprofit. He serves as Treasurer and is also on the Editorial Advisory Board of Autism Empowerment’s Spectrum Life Magazine. Brian donates one dollar for every Joel Suzuki series book sold to Autism Empowerment.