The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators presents
A True Novel by Minae Mizumura, translated into English by Juliet Winters Carpenter
SCBWI Japan Translation Day 2014: Japanese Literature in English for Young Adults
A day of presentations, critiques, and conversation for published and pre-published translators of Japanese children’s literature into English, with a focus on young adult (YA) literature.
Time: Saturday, October 18, 2014, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (Registration at 8:30 a.m.)
Place: Yokohama International School, 2F Pauli Bldg
Fee: Advance Registration 3,000 yen SCBWI and SWET members; 4,000 yen non-members. At the Door 4,000 yen SCBWI and SWET members; 5,000 yen non-members.
Advance registrations and translations of text for workshop with Juliet Winters Carpenter are due by Friday, October 3, 2014.
Registration: To reserve your place and request workshop texts, send an e-mail to japan (at) scbwi.org
This event will be in English.
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SCBWI Japan Translation Day 2014 Schedule
8:30 Registration | 8:50 Opening Remarks
9:00-9:45 Cathy Hirano: Why Translate for Children and Teens in a Translation Resistant Market?
Cathy Hirano’s translations of Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit and Moribito II: Guardian of the Darkness enabled Nahoko Uehashi to win the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award in Writing. Cathy explores why translations into English matter, and considers some specific issues in how to translate from Japanese for growing readers.
10:00-10:45 Juliet Winters Carpenter: How to Voice Novels in Translation
A translator of folktales, poetry, nonfiction, and novels—including A True Novel by Minae Mizumura, winner of the 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Award’s Grand Prize in Fiction—Juliet Winters Carpenter discusses how she translates voice.
11:00-12:00 Daniel Hahn: Pathways to Publication in the UK
As Program Director of the British Centre for Literary Translation and compiler of a forthcoming new edition of the Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature, Daniel Hahn knows what it takes to publish translations for children and young adults in the UK. In this exchange via Skype, he responds to questions generated by SCBWI Japan Translation Group.
Lunch—Bring a lunch and “talk shop” with fellow translators in the event room or nearby Minato-no-Mieru Oka Park.
1:30-3:00 Juliet Winters Carpenter: Novel Translation Workshop
Juliet Winters Carpenter critiques participants’ translations of selected text from a novel for young adult readers and up.
Translation Day participants must submit their translations of the selected text for this workshop by October 3, 2014. To request the text and register for Translation Day, send an e-mail to japan (at) scbwi.org
3:15-3:45 Alexander O. Smith: Demonstration of Voice Recognition Software
The cofounder of Bento Books and translator of Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe, winner of the Mildred L. Batchelder Award, shows how voice recognition software enhances his translation process.
4:00-4:30 Lynne E. Riggs and Avery Fischer Udagawa: SWET, SCBWI and Key Resources
The translator of Kiki’s Delivery Service describes the Society of Writers, Editors and Translators (SWET) and its resource for all who work with English about Japan: Japan Style Sheet. The translator of J-Boys describes the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and its resource for all who work with children’s/YA lit: The Book.
4:30-5:00 Discussion/Q & A and Closing Comments
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SCBWI Japan Translation Day 2014 Speakers
Juliet Winters Carpenter was born in the US Midwest and studied Japanese literature at the University of Michigan under Edward Seidensticker, as well as at the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies, then in Tokyo. Her translation of Kobo Abe’s novel Secret Rendezvous won the 1980 Japan–United States Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature. Her many subsequent translations include mysteries, folktales, romance novels, haiku and tanka poetry, historical fiction, and books on Buddhist philosophy. She has translated signature works by Fumiko Enchi, Miyuki Miyabe, Machi Tawara, and Junichi Watanabe. She took part in the landmark project to translate Clouds Above the Hill: A Historical Novel of the Russo-Japanese War by Ryotaro Shiba. A longtime resident of Kyoto, she teaches at Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts and authored the book Seeing Kyoto. Her recent translations for younger readers are “The Fox and the Otter,” “The Grateful Crane,” and “The Tale of the Bamboo-Cutter” for NHK World Radio, and the story “Fleecy Clouds” by Arie Nashiya for Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction—An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories. Her translation of A True Novel by Minae Mizumura—a remaking of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights set in postwar Japan—has won the 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Award for Fiction: www.otherpress.com/books/true-novel/
Cathy Hirano grew up in Canada and studied at International Christian University in Tokyo. She lives in Takamatsu, Kagawa prefecture, and translates texts in a variety of fields, including anthropology, sociology, and architecture, as well as children’s and young adult (YA) literature. She has translated seven middle grade and YA novels: The Friends, The Spring Tone, and The Letters by Kazumi Yumoto; Dragon Sword and Wind Child and Mirror Sword and Shadow Prince by Noriko Ogiwara; and Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit and Moribito II: Guardian of the Darkness by Nahoko Uehashi. The Friends won the Mildred L. Batchelder Award, a prestigious prize for translated children’s books, in 1997; Moribito and Moribito II earned the Batchelder Award and a Batchelder Honor, respectively, in 2009–2010. These translations paved the way for Nahoko Uehashi to win the international Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing in 2014. Cathy has also translated numerous picture books, including Hannah’s Night by Komako Sakai. Her essay “Eight Ways to Say You” deftly describes translating Japanese literature into English for young people: http://archive.hbook.com/magazine/articles/1999/jan99_hirano.asp
Daniel Hahn is a British writer, editor and/or translator of more than forty books. He has authored the nonfiction titles The Tower Menagerie and The Oxford Guide to Literary Britain and Ireland, as well as biographies of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His translations from Portuguese, Spanish and French include fiction by José Luís Peixoto, Philippe Claudel, María Dueñas, Eduardo Halfon, and Gonçalo M. Tavares. He has translated nonfiction by Portuguese Nobel laureate José Saramago and Brazilian footballer Pelé. He has co-edited The Ultimate Book Guide, a series of reading guides for children and teens, and authored the picture book Happiness is a Watermelon on Your Head. He is compiling the new Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature, currently made up of 3,640 entries. A former chair of the Translators Association, Hahn is national program director of the British Centre for Literary Translation, the leading organization for development, promotion, and support of literary translation in Britain. BCLT programs for translators from Japanese have included mentorships, summer schools, and master classes, often offered in conjunction with the Nippon Foundation. www.bclt.org.uk
Lynne E. Riggs of Komae-shi, Tokyo, is an active member of the Society of Writers, Editors and Translators (SWET) and teaches translation at International Christian University. Her translations include the novel Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono and “Love Letter” by Megumi Fujino for Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction—An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories. www.cichonyaku.com
Alexander O. Smith is the founder of Kajiya Productions Inc., co-founder of Bento Books Inc., and based in Kamakura. His translation of the YA fantasy novel Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe earned the Batchelder Award in 2008. He translated the parable in verse “Wings on the Wind” by Yuichi Kimura for Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction—An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories. www.bentobooks.com
Avery Fischer Udagawa lives near Bangkok. Her translations include the middle grade historical novel J-Boys: Kazuo’s World, Tokyo, 1965 by Shogo Oketani and the story “House of Trust” by Sachiko Kashiwaba in Tomo: Friendship through Fiction—An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories. She coordinates activities of the SCBWI Japan Translation Group. www.averyfischerudagawa.com
SCBWI Japan Translation Group 