#WorldKidLit Month: Summer Adventures and Goodbyes—Four Japanese Books for Middle Graders

Posted on by Avery Fischer Udagawa

Today’s post comes to you from Sabrina Rossi: If summer feels already like a distant memory, you may want to dive into the following middle grade books, all set in the hot Japanese summer and offering, like a colourful ice cream, flavours for any taste: from historical fiction to magic realism, from short novella to … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Month: Summer Adventures and Goodbyes—Four Japanese Books for Middle Graders

#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Ms. Ice Sandwich

Posted on by Avery Fischer Udagawa

What? A fiction title for grown-ups on #WorldKidLit Wednesday? Yes, Ms. Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami, translated from Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai, works as adult, young adult, AND middle grade reading. Why? This slim import from the U.K.’s Pushkin Press, released Stateside by Penguin Random House, features a fourth-grade boy as main character and … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Ms. Ice Sandwich

Me and My Monkey — by Roland Kelts

Posted on by David Jacobson

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

Anglophoned Fiction Favorites — by Smithsonian BookDragon Terry Hong, part 2

Posted on by David Jacobson

May GLLI Blog Series:  Japan in Translation, No. 13 Editor's note:  Today begins the second installment of Smithsonian BookDragon Terry Hong's current favorites in Japanese translated fiction.  It's interesting though perhaps coincidental to note that five of Terry's nine recommendations were written by women, and seven of the nine were translated by women.  I point … Continue reading Anglophoned Fiction Favorites — by Smithsonian BookDragon Terry Hong, part 2