READ One thing I’m enjoying about this reading-the-world project is that it’s nudging me to read international authors I’ve always heard about, but have never read. In the case of Japan, I finally read a book by bestselling author Haruki Murakami – Norwegian Wood, translated by Jay Rubin. As the novel opens, 37-year-old Toru Watanabe is … Continue reading The Booktrekker: Japan
Me and My Monkey — by Roland Kelts
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
Translator Showdown: Where Manga Meets the Novel — by publisher Bruce Rutledge
May GLLI Blog Series: Japan in Translation, No. 21 Two of Japan’s all-time best-selling writers, the late Shigeru Mizuki of Gegege no Kitaro fame and contemporary writer Haruki Murakami, have translators who live about seven miles apart from each other in the Seattle area. My company, Chin Music Press, decided to get those translators together … Continue reading Translator Showdown: Where Manga Meets the Novel — by publisher Bruce Rutledge
Sinking into a Classical Sunset — by Translator Jay Rubin
May GLLI Blog Series: Japan in Translation, No. 19 June 28, 2018 is the official UK publication date for my Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories, which will contain thirty-one complete stories, one segment from an episodic story, one novella, and two excerpts from novels. Assembling the pieces, which range in publication date from … Continue reading Sinking into a Classical Sunset — by Translator Jay Rubin
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 