Did you have a pen pal when you were little? Maybe someone from halfway around the world, whom you’d never seen, from a land you knew nothing about? That’s the premise of Yours Sincerely, Giraffe, a sweet, zany chapter book for ages 6-10, with charming illustrations by award-winning artist Jun Takabatake (Bologna Children’s Book Fair Graphics … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: Yours Sincerely, Giraffe
Meet my wonderful co-#WorldKidLitWednesday blogger, Avery Fischer Udagawa! Avery grew up in Kansas and has lived in Bangkok, Thailand, for over a dozen years. But does she translate from Thai into English? No! That would be far too straightforward a situation for this busy, accomplished translator. Avery is a multiply published translator of Japanese … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Meet Translator Avery Fischer Udagawa
#WorldKidLit Wednesday: My Brother’s Husband MBH, v. 1 I was captivated by My Brother’s Husband, by Gengoroh Tagame, translated by Anne Ishii. The story’s warm, gentle trajectory addresses an important subject for teens and, frankly, readers worldwide: accepting one’s sexuality and, more specifically, being gay in a homophobic society. Author Gengoroh Tagame is an award-winning, openly gay … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: My Brother’s Husband
May GLLI Blog Series: Japan in Translation, No. 29 Editor's note: Though it took 18 years from publication in Japan until translation and publication in English, Kazuki Kaneshiro’s Go: A Coming of Age Novel, just released in March by AmazonCrossing, is already eliciting superlative reviews. Go's zainichi protagonist Sugihara is “one of the most memorable characters … Continue reading Takami Nieda on Kaneshiro’s Zainichi Tour de Force “Go”
May GLLI Blog Series: Japan in Translation, No. 28 What’s the significance of the numbers 18, 49, 82, and 183? If you answered that those are the numbers of light novels published in English annually from 2014-2017, you’re right. But I have a sneaking suspicion you are more likely thinking, “Wait, a ‘light’ novel? What’s … Continue reading The Vast Light Novel Universe — by translator Emily Balistrieri
May GLLI Blog Series: Japan in Translation, No. 27 Editor's note: Forget the old saw that English language readers won't read literature in translation. For the last seven years, Monkey Business: New Writing from Japan has been publishing an annual journal of what it calls "the best of contemporary Japanese literature" in English. The paperback editions of … Continue reading Me and My Monkey — by Roland Kelts
May GLLI Blog Series: Japan in Translation, No. 26 Editor's note: Kadono Eiko is the recipient of the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the most prestigious prize given in children's literature worldwide. She is best known outside of Japan for Majo no Takkyubin, ("Kiki's Delivery Service"), which was made into a popular animated movie by … Continue reading Sharing the Magic: Translating Kadono Eiko, by Lynne E. Riggs
May GLLI Blog Series: Japan in Translation, No. 25 In any form of conflict, be it a global war or family strife, children are the most deeply impacted. Literature reflects this, and Japan, so profoundly transformed by its role in global war, is certainly no exception. Many Japanese children’s creators today experienced war first-hand as … Continue reading Stories for Peace — Sako Ikegami on War in Japanese Children’s Literature
May GLLI Blog Series: Japan in Translation, No. 24 Photo courtesy of Jonathan Armstrong, for the Documentist Photography In 2016, I and my colleagues Allison Markin Powell and Lucy North realized we would all be attending the London Book Fair. We decided to take advantage of this to organize a reading at the Society … Continue reading Strong Women, Soft Power — by Ginny Tapley Takemori
May GLLI Blog Series: Japan in Translation, No. 23 Editor's Note: Yesterday, we quoted Kirkus' YA Editor Laura Simeon saying that the first piece of translated young adult fiction she had read was Kazumi Yumoto's The Friends (winner of the 1997 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction and the 1997 Batchelder Award). Today we hear … Continue reading Q&A with Translator Cathy Hirano on “The Beast Player,” by Hans Christian Andersen Award Winner Nahoko Uehashi
