A GLLI Video Interview with Cathy Hirano

By Andrew Wong, Tokyo

The global pandemic has forced events online and deprived excellent books of much needed opportunities for promotion. So when the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative announced the winners of its 2021 Translated YA Book Prize and gave 2020 co-winner Cathy Hirano the chance to talk about her translations of The Beast Player and The Beast Warrior, I tuned in to watch her interview (accessible from here) with David Jacobson, introduced by Annette Goldsmith.

Cathy drew on her long career to share her insights into literary translation. For her work with Nahoko Uehashi, she related how Uehashi herself commissioned the entire translation of a Moribito title instead of just a sample, which demonstrated her understanding that the power of that story could only be seen when presented in its entirety. Talking at length about their work together, Cathy also appreciated how Uehashi is flexible, tweaking her work for dramatization and other adaptations, and often engaging deeply to help others convey her work. Cathy would probably be quick to concur that her excellent translations are in part down to what I perceived to be her deeply satisfying collaborative relationship with Uehashi, which in turn contributed to Uehashi clinching the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing.

The conversation also touched on adding information to build cultural bridges—or not—for example, by leaving foreign words as-is, like Toda for the lizards bred for battle, while choosing Royal Beast over Ōjū, which didn’t sound quite so magnificent in English. That Uehashi’s fantasy worlds had to be shaped by the original text meant less bridging work than stories set in specific periods in history.

US editions of The Beast Player and The Beast Warrior (Holt), illustrated by Yuta Onoda

Turning to the themes in the Beast titles, Cathy notes that while Uehashi draws on her background in cultural anthropology to weave complex multicultural relationships in a fantasy world, just as she did for the Moribito series, romance only appears in fleeting episodes. The momentum stays very much in the tussles with power and with the fear and control of the unfamiliar other. While I was particularly drawn to Elin’s development under the guidance of her mentors Joeun and Esalu in The Beast Player, it was intriguing to hear both David and Cathy note the parallel in the political relationships between the symbolic ruler Yojeh and her protectors, and that of Japan and the US in the real world, although Uehashi was leaning more towards an exploration of the situation internally in Japan. Perhaps my reading as a Singaporean was partly what made me simply join Elin and her young family in their flight in the second title, struggling together with them to find the light in a dense tangle of relationships. Then, Elin’s bond with Leelan, a Royal Beast she had cared for since nursing her back to health as a cub, steeled her to do what she had to in the final maelstrom.

As the interview drew to a close, Cathy made the translator in me smile when she said she found great satisfaction from knowing her work helped someone else experience a book the same way she did. By taking the time to highlight this second fascinating epic from the collaborative duo of Nahoko Uehashi and Cathy Hirano, GLLI too has opened more doors to worlds of the other, and extended an invitation to the conversation on translated works for children and young adults.

Global Literature in Libraries Initiative Features Japan, Including Children’s and YA Literature

By Andrew Wong, Tokyo

Looking for a strong dose of commentary on Japanese literary works online? Try the special Japan-in-Translation series at the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative (published throughout May 2018). Organized by David Jacobson, this series offered an entire month of blog posts spanning poetry and prose, manga, light novels, chapter books, picture books, fun with kanji, and onomatopoeia, plus reflections on publishing and reading translated works. Several members of SCBWI Japan contributed.

Here is the full list of posts in the series, including many on children’s literature:

• May 1:  Roger Pulvers on Ishikawa Takuboku (Japan-in-Translation, No. 1)
• May 2:  Kathryn Hemmann on outsider stories in contemporary literature(Japan-in-Translation, No. 2)
• May 3:  Deborah Iwabuchi on memorable translations (Japan-in-Translation, No. 3)
• May 4:  Eve Kushner on kanji’s punning potential, part 1 (Japan-in-Translation, No. 4)
• May 5:  Eve Kushner on kanji’s punning potential, part 2 (Japan-in-Translation, No. 5)
• May 7:  Translator roundtable on Shiba Ryōtarō’s Ryōma!, part 1 (Japan-in-Translation, No. 6)
• May 8: Translator roundtable on Shiba Ryōtarō’s Ryōma!, part 2 (Japan-in-Translation, No. 7)
• May 9: Librarian Ash Brown on manga in translation (Japan-in-Translation, No. 8)
• May 10: Excerpt from Mori Eto’s Dive!! (Japan-in-Translation, No. 9)
• May 11: Tony Malone on translations of Natsume Sōseki (Japan-in-Translation, No. 10)
• May 12: Poet Michael Dylan Welch on translating haiku (Japan-in-Translation, No. 11)
• May 14: Smithsonian BookDragon’s Favorites, part 1 (Japan-in-Translation, No. 12)
• May 15: Smithsonian BookDragon’s Favorites, part 2 (Japan-in-Translation, No. 13)
• May 16: Sally Ito on Misuzu Kaneko’s Compassionate Imagination (Japan-in-Translation, No. 14)
• May 17: Frederik Schodt on The Four Immigrants Manga (Japan-in-Translation, No. 15)
• May 18: Stone Bridge Press Publisher Peter Goodman (Japan-in-Translation, No. 16)
• May 19: Melek Ortabasi on Japanese Literature as World Literature (Japan-in-Translation, No. 17)
• May 20: Selected Japanese Picture Books by Andrew Wong (Japan-in-Translation, No. 18)
• May 21: Murakami translator Jay Rubin (Japan-in-Translation, No. 19)
• May 22: Zack Davisson on translating sound effects in comics (Japan-in-Translation, No. 20)
• May 23: Translator showdown: where manga meets the novel (Japan-in-Translation, No. 21)
• May 24: Kirkus YA Editor Laura Simeon on cultural messages in Japanese picture books (Japan-in-Translation, No. 22)
• May 25: Q&A with Translator Cathy Hirano on Nahoko Uehashi’s The Beast Player (Japan-in-Translation, No. 23)
• May 26: Strong women, soft power by Ginny Tapley Takemori (Japan-in-Translation, No. 24)
• May 27: War in Japanese children’s literature by Sako Ikegami (Japan-in-Translation, No. 25)
• May 28: Translating Kadono Eiko by Lynne E. Riggs (Japan-in-Translation, No. 26)
• May 29: Roland Kelts on Monkey Business (Japan-in-Translation, No. 27)
• May 30: Emily Balistrieri on light novels (Japan-in-Translation, No. 28)
• May 31: Takami Nieda on Kazuki Kaneshiro’s Go (Japan-in-Translation, No. 29)

All About the Freeman Book Awards

By Avery Fischer Udagawa, Bangkok

Sponsored by the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA), the Committee on Teaching about Asia (CTA) of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), and Asia for Educators (AFE) at Columbia University, the annual Freeman Book Awards “recognize quality books for children and young adults that contribute meaningfully to an understanding of East and Southeast Asia.”

When her translation of the novel Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxuan from Chinese won the 2017 young adult/middle school literature award, Helen Wang wished to know more and asked David Jacobson, whose Are You An Echo? The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko received a 2016 honorable mention in the children’s literature category. Here is David’s response, which also appears at Chinese Books for Young Readers.

 

David: Thanks, Helen, for this opportunity. To be frank, I didn’t know much about the Freeman Book Awards either, when my publisher applied for consideration. That was in the winter of 2016, and we had just learned that a new Asia-related prize would be added to the slew of children’s book awards announced at the American Library Association’s annual mid-winter meeting. So, of course we applied…

In April, we received word that Are You an Echo?  had received an honorable mention, so I did a little sleuthing online to find out more about the awards. In so doing, I discovered that the University of Washington’s East Asia Resource Room was about to hold a National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) seminar using my book as one of its teaching materials. So I contacted them and offered to introduce the book and answer questions, if they desired. They did, and I ended up teaching a seminar to about 25 elementary and secondary school teachers.

The NCTA aims to make a “permanent place for East Asia in K-12 classrooms in the United States.” 

 

Which brings me to what I find so striking about my experience with the Freeman Award: the immediate connection it has helped me create with teachers who care about introducing Asia to their students. Besides the seminar last spring, NCTA also invited me to participate in two sessions at its upcoming summer institute (one about Echo and the other about the database of translated children’s books in Chinese, Japanese and Korean that we published here), and possibly an online webinar in the fall.

That, it turns out, is the essence of NCTA’s mission: to make a “permanent place for East Asia in K-12 classrooms in the United States,” according to Mary Hammond Bernson, who is both NCTA co-founder as well as the director of the East Asia Resource Center at UW, one of the seven national coordinating sites that make up NCTA.

Founded in 1988, NCTA’s principal vehicle for aiding teachers has been its teacher seminars; some 22,000 educators have participated to date. But a few years ago, it discovered that other organizations were recognizing and promoting international children’s books with prizes such as the South Asian Book Awards, but there were none for East and Southeast Asia.

So it started the Freeman Book Awards. Unlike other prizes such as the Scholastic Asian Book Award and the APALA Children’s Book Awards (which are limited to those who are Asian or of Asian descent), the Freeman awards do not consider Asian-American focused topics.

“We are simply hoping to promote literature, as opposed to text books, that will interest K-12 students,” says Roberta Martin, a senior researcher at Columbia and also a co-founder of NCTA (Columbia is another of the national coordinating sites).

The awards are named for the Freeman family, whose foundation (the Freeman Foundation) funds both NCTA and the book prizes. For a colorful history of the Freeman family’s 100-year-long association with Asia, see this interview of Houghton Freeman.

The Freeman Book Awards are offered in two categories, children’s and young adult literature. Submission guidelines and instructions can be found here. This year’s deadline for books published in 2018 is August 31.

Winners and Honorable Mentions 2017 

Children’s Literature

• Winner: The Crane Girl by Curtis Manley, illustr. by Lin Wang (Shen’s Books) – Fiction, set in Japan
• Honorable Mention: An’s Seed by Zaozao Wang, illustr. by Li Huang, tr. Helen Wang (Candied Plums; Bilingual edition) – Fiction, set in China
• Honorable Mention: Chibi Samurai Wants a Pet by Sanae Ishida (Little Bigfoot) – Fiction, set in Japan
• Honorable Mention: My First Book of Vietnamese Words by Tran Thi Minh Phuoc (Tuttle Publishing; Bilingual edition) – Fiction, set in Vietnam

Young Adult/Middle School Literature

• Winner: Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxuan, illustr. by Meilo So, tr. Helen Wang (Candlewick Press) – Fiction, set in China
• Honorable Mention: Hotaka: Through My Eyes – Natural Disaster Zones by John Heffernan, edited by Lyn White (Allen & Unwin) – Fiction, set in Japan
• Honorable Mention: Ten: A Soccer Story by Shamini Flint (Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) – Fiction, set in Malaysia
• Honorable Mention: The Emperor’s Riddle by Kat Zhang (Simon & Schuster; Aladdin) – Fiction, set in China

Young Adult/High School Literature

• Winner: The Forbidden Temptation of Baseball by Doris Jones Yang (Spark Press) – Fiction, set in Japan and the U.S.
• Honorable Mention: Want by Cindy Pon (Simon & Schuster; Simon Pulse) – Fiction, set in Taiwan
• Honorable Mention: Tanabata Wishby Sara Fujimura (Wishes Enterprises, LLC) – Fiction, set in Japan

 Winners and Honorable Mentions 2016

Children’s Literature

• Winner: My Night in the Planetarium by Innosanto Nagara (Seven Stories Press) – Non-Fiction, set in Indonesia
• Honorable Mention: Are You an Echo? The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko by Misuzu Kaneko (Chin Music Press) – Non-Fiction, set in Japan

Young Adult/Middle School Literature

• Winner: Somewhere Among by Annie Donwerth-Chikamatsu (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) – Fiction, set in Japan
• Winner: The Night Parade by Kathryn Tanquary (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky) – Fiction, set in Japan
• Honorable Mention: Falling into the Dragon’s Mouth by Holly Thompson (Henry Holt BYR/Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group) – Fiction, set in Japan

Young Adult/High School Literature

• Winner: Every Falling Star: The True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea by Sungju Lee and Susan Elizabeth McClelland (Amulet, an imprint of ABRAMS) – Non-Fiction, set in North Korea
• Honorable Mention: Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story by Caren Stelson (Carolrhoda Books, a division of Lerner Publishing Group) – Non-Fiction, set in Japan

A New List of Children’s Books Translated from Chinese, Japanese, Korean

By Avery Fischer Udagawa, Bangkok

David Jacobson is known to many as the author of Are You An Echo? The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko, a picture book and anthology hailed for bringing a Japanese poet to life in English. Jacobson is now working to bring attention to more Asian writers and stories, by chairing a panel at the upcoming 12th IBBY Regional Conference in Seattle (October 20-22, 2017)—and by surveying children’s literature available in translation from Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

David Jacobson’s Survey of Translations of Children’s and YA Literature Translated from Chinese, Japanese and Korean – Jacobson – Survey of Translations (2017)

 

An exciting new resource, Jacobson’s list gives ideas for librarians and booksellers hoping to expand their offerings from Asia for children. Jacobson’s introduction to his list also lays out important information about the small percentage of English-language children’s books that are translations, and the skewed representation of the world’s languages within that small percentage.

Jacobson hopes to add to his list, so if you know of titles he might include, please comment on this post. The list covers picture books through YA.

Japan Kidlit for Women in Translation Month

August is Women in Translation Month! Here are Japan kidlit titles (picture book through Young Adult) by #womenintranslation that have appeared on this blog so far. Click to read more!

The Nurse and the Baker by Mika Ichii, translated by Hart Larrabee

Little Keys and the Red Piano by Hideko Ogawa, translated by Kazuko Enda and Deborah Iwabuchi

The Bear and the Wildcat by Kazumi Yumoto, illustrated by Komako Sakai, translated by Cathy Hirano

Are You An Echo? The Lost of Poems of Misuzu Kaneko by David Jacobson, illustrated by Toshikado Hajiri, translated by Sally Ito and Michiko Tsuboi

Totto-chan by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, translated by Dorothy Britton

The Secret of the Blue Glass by Tomiko Inui, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori

Brave Story written by Miyuki Miyabe, translated by Alexander O. Smith

 

TOMO with stories by Naoko Awa, Yukie Chiri, Megumi Fujino, Sachiko Kashiwaba, Arie Nashiya, Yuko Katakawa, and Fumio Takano; translated by Toshiya Kamei, Deborah Davidson, Lynne E. Riggs, Avery Fischer Udagawa, Juliet Winters Carpenter, Deborah Iwabuchi, and Hart Larrabee

Dragon Sword and Wind Child by Noriko Ogiwara, translated by Cathy Hirano

Mirror Sword and Shadow Prince by Noriko Ogiwara, translated by Cathy Hirano

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi, translated by Cathy Hirano

Moribito II: Guardian of the Darkness by Nahoko Uehashi, translated by Cathy Hirano

A True Novel by Minae Mizumura, translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter

Confessions by Kanae Minato, translated by Stephen Snyder

 

Are You an Echo? Showcased at Tokyo Event

By Deborah Iwabuchi, Maebashi Japan

From left: Toshikado Hajiri, Michiko Tsuboi, and David Jacobson

On February 4, the illustrator, one of the translators, and the author of Are You an Echo? The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko spoke at an SCBWI Japan event in Tokyo.

Author David Jacobson (above right) began by telling how he was introduced to the works of Misuzu Kaneko (1903–1930), by friends who were Kaneko fans. He began to do research and work out a plan and funding for a book of her poetry.

The first order of business was finding a translator. The “translator” turned out to be an aunt-niece team: Michiko Tsuboi, based in Japan, and Sally Ito, an ethnic Japanese born and raised in Canada. Both of the women had already translated Kaneko poems for “fun,” according to Tsuboi. Jacobson found in these two women the enthusiasm for Kaneko’s work he felt was needed to translate her poetry. He also wanted a feminine interpretation of the “motherly” and “girlish” language Kaneko used in her poems.

Jacobson, Tsuboi and Ito first met in person when they, with illustrator Toshikado Hajiri, took a trip to Senzaki (now Nagato City) where Kaneko spent her life. Thus motivated to get on with the project, their real work began.

Tsuboi told us about the endless emails and Skype sessions she, Jacobson and Ito shared. From my point of view as a translator, one of the most interesting points was how Tsuboi and Ito were so involved in Jacobson’s narrative of Kaneko’s life. Tsuboi mentioned how shocked she was when her Canadian niece criticized Jacobson’s work at times, but seeing that the author was paying attention, she joined in with her own unvarnished opinions. In the end, all three of the group were credited for narrative and translation. In the process, the story of Kaneko’s life became the prominent feature of the book. But Jacobson was determined to include many of her poems.

Tsuboi said her role in translating the poetry was to convey the nuances of Japanese culture to her niece, and Ito’s job was to make the poetic interpretation. The two thought the simple poems would be easy to translate, but they ended up in endless arguments about wording and interpretation.

As a reader thoroughly enchanted by Are You an Echo? I enjoyed the back story about the trip to Senzaki, the arguments and critiques and endless rewriting. As a translator and writer, I was in awe of the dedication to the work and the ability of all involved to set their egos aside, to create a book that so eloquently honors the tragedy and unique sensitivity of a little known poet.

The event on February 4 continued with a showcase of works by SCBWI Japan members, including Ginny Tapley Takemori, translator of The Secret of the Blue Glass by Tomiko Inui.

The Creative Collaboration Behind “Are You An Echo?” and SCBWI Japan Showcase on Feb. 4

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators presents

The Creative Collaboration Behind Are You An Echo? The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko

with author David Jacobson, co-translator Michiko Tsuboi and illustrator Toshikado Hajiri

followed by

SCBWI Japan Showcase of New Works

with authors Michael Currinder, Suzanne Kamata, Trevor Kew, Leza Lowitz and Holly Thompson, author-illustrators Keiko Kasza and Izumi Tanaka, and translator Ginny Tapley Takemori

Date: Saturday, February 4, 2016

Time: Presentation 1-2:30 p.m. | Showcase 2:45-4:30 p.m.

Place: Tokyo Women’s Plaza, Audiovisual Rooms A & B, 5-53-67 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo (by the United Nations University; map)

RSVP: Reserve by sending an email to japan (at) scbwi.org

Full Details: See the SCBWI Japan event page

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The Creative Collaboration Behind Are You An Echo? The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko (1-2:30 p.m.)

Join three of the creators of the stunning picture book published by Chin Music Press about the life and poetry of Misuzu Kaneko. David Jacobson will share about his role in crafting the biographical text and the forming of the book’s creative team. Michiko Tsuboi will address challenges faced in translating the seemingly simple poems of Misuzu Kaneko and her collaborative process with co-translator Sally Ito. Toshikado Hajiri will discuss his research, process, approach and technique in creating the many detailed illustrations for the book. There will be plenty of time for Q&A. Please feel free to bring your pre-purchased books for signing; please note that books will not be available for purchase at this event.

David Jacobson is a longtime journalist and writer with a specialty in Japan. He has a BA in East Asian Studies from Yale University and was awarded a Mombusho scholarship to study at Tokyo’s Hitotsubashi University. While a journalist in print and broadcast media, his news articles and TV scripts appeared in the Associated Press, The Washington Post, The Seattle Times, The Japan Times, and on NHK and CNN. Since joining Chin Music Press in 2008, David has edited or copyedited titles including Yokohama Yankee, The Sun Gods and Why Ghosts Appear. Are You an Echo? The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko is his first book. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

Toshikado Hajiri is a graphic artist and illustrator in Tokushima, Japan. After graduating from Ritsumeikan University in international relations and working at a trading company, in 2009 he decided to pursue his love for painting full-time. His work has appeared in school textbooks, advertisements, calendars, and in 12 children’s picture books. He was awarded 2nd prize in the 2006 International Illustration Competition sponsored by the Japan Illustrators’ Association, and his work was selected for inclusion in the illustrator’s gallery of the 2016 Asia Festival of Children’s Content. Are You an Echo? The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko is his first book for international publication. For a gallery of his work, visit hajiritoshikado.com.

Michiko Tsuboi lives in Shiga, Japan. She majored in English literature in Doshisha Women’s College and has studied Canadian literature in Edmonton, Canada. She taught English at a high school and still teaches it at her home. Are You an Echo: The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko is her first published book of translation.

 

 

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SCBWI Japan Showcase of New Works (2:45-4:30 p.m.)

Join us for the SCBWI Japan Showcase 2017! SCBWI Japan member authors, illustrators and translators will present their recent or forthcoming children’s and YA books to the public in brief, lively presentations. Authors and illustrators will share excerpts, ideas that inspired the work, creative process, techniques, curriculum tie-ins, related activities, and more. Speed Q&A will follow the presentations.

Michael Currinder grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and ran cross-country and track at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Running Full Tilt is his first novel and is a fusion of his collective experiences as a talented high school runner and his close, yet complicated, relationship with his older autistic sibling. Mike has been an international educator for close to two decades, having lived in China, Taiwan, and the Philippines. He and his wife are now on year nine in Tokyo with their rescue dog, Leo.

Suzanne Kamata is the author of four novels including the award-winning Gadget Girl: The Art of Being Invisible, Screaming Divas, which was named to the ALA Rainbow List, and The Mermaids of Lake Michigan, which was a finalist for the Helen Sheehan YA Book Prize. Her short fiction and poetry for young readers  have appeared in YARN, Ladybug, Cricket, Cicada, and the anthology  Tomo. She serves as Publicity Assistant for SCBWI Japan, and teaches EFL and Creative Writing at Tokushima University. www.suzannekamata.com

Keiko Kasza was born on an island in the Inland Sea of Japan. She moved to the U.S. in 1973 and graduated with a B.A. in graphic arts from California State University at Northridge. Her first picture book was published in 1981 in Japan, and she continued to publish in her native language. The Wolf’s Chicken Stew, a 1987 ALA notable book and the winner of the 1989 Kentucky Bluegrass Award, was her first work published in the U.S. She has now published 21 picture books. Keiko Kasza currently lives in Tokyo, but she is planning to return to her home in the U.S. in a few years. www.keikokasza.com

Trevor Kew hails from the small mountain town of Rossland, BC, in Canada. He is the author of six children’s novels including Trading Goals, Playing Favourites, and Run for Your Life, which was published in January 2017. He also contributed a story to the young adult anthology Tomo in 2012. Trevor teaches MYP and IBDP English at Yokohama International School. He is fast closing in on his first decade of living in Japan and definitely will write about Japan one day. http://trevorkew.com

Leza Lowitz is a poet, fiction writer and memoirist. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Huffington Post, Shambhala Sun and others. She has published over 20 books, including Yoga Poems: Lines to Unfold By, Jet Black and the Ninja Wind (Winner of the APALA Award), her memoir Here Comes the Sun, and Up From the Sea, her first verse novel for young adults. Other awards include the PEN Josephine Miles Award, a PEN Syndicated Fiction Award, NEA and NEH grants, and the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the translation of Japanese Literature. She also runs Sun and Moon Yoga studio in Tokyo. www.lezalowitz.com

Ginny Tapley Takemori is a British translator based in rural Ibaraki, Japan, who has translated fiction by more than a dozen early modern and contemporary Japanese writers. She studied Japanese at the universities of SOAS (London) and Waseda (Tokyo) and earned her MA in Advanced Japanese Studies from The University of Sheffield. Two of her translations for young people are published by Pushkin Children’s Books: The Whale That Fell In Love With a Submarine, a short story collection by Akiyuki Nosaka, and The Secret of the Blue Glass by Tomiko Inui.

Izumi Tanaka was born in Kumamoto and grew up in Nagasaki. She loved to walk in the mountains during her childhood and still does now. After studying Japanese traditional gouache painting for several years, she began writing picture books. In 2005, she self-published her first picture book No no Hana no yōni (Like Wildflowers), a story set in Mongolia. In March 2017, her second book, Mame-chan no Bōken (Mame-chan’s Adventure) will be released as an e-book. http://izumi-picturebooks.jimdo.com

Holly Thompson is a longtime resident of Japan and author of the verse novels Falling into the Dragon’s Mouth, The Language Inside and Orchards; picture books The Wakame Gatherers and the forthcoming Twilight Chant; the novel Ash; and other works. A graduate of the NYU Creative Writing Program, she writes poetry, fiction and nonfiction for children, teens, and adults, and teaches creative writing in Japan, the U.S., and places in between. www.hatbooks.com

japan.scbwi.org

Publishers Weekly Features Poet Misuzu Kaneko

By Deborah Iwabuchi, Maebashi, Japan

Are You an Echo: The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko has been featured by Publishers Weekly.  If you are still trying to decide whether to reserve a copy of this picture book from Chin Music Press, due out in late September, be sure to read this in-depth introduction and have a look at a few of the beautiful illustrations. Poetry by Misuzu Kaneko, text and translation by David Jacobson, Sally Ito, and Michiko Tsuboi. Illustrations by Toshikado Hajiri.

 

 

 

Picture Book to Share the Poetry, and Life Story, of Misuzu Kaneko

by David Jacobson, Seattle, Washington

“Who was Misuzu Kaneko?”

That’s what my colleagues and I at Chin Music Press asked when we set out to create our forthcoming picture book, Are You an Echo?  The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko (release date: Sept. 13, 2016). The question is probably the first one that comes to mind among those not familiar with this wonderful children’s poet, who, amazingly, is little known in the English-speaking world.

 

Wonder

I wonder why

the rain that falls from black clouds

shines like silver.

I wonder why

the silkworm that eats green mulberry leaves

is so white.

I wonder why

the moonflower that no one tends

blooms on its own.

I wonder why

everyone I ask

about these things

laughs and says, “That’s just how it is.”

By Misuzu Kaneko

Translation  © Sally Ito and Michiko Tsuboi, 2016

Kaneko has a remarkable story. Born in 1903, she grew up in rural Yamaguchi prefecture but became quite well educated for a woman of her time. She was an immediate success when she began submitting her poems for publication in the 1920s, and was one of only two women admitted to a prestigious national society of children’s poets.

At the height of her fame, however, Kaneko suffered tragedy in her private life. She was forced to marry a philanderer who not only infected her with gonorrhea but ultimately forbade her to write. She divorced him after four years, but he refused to give up custody of their one child, which was his right by Japanese law at the time. The night before he was due to take away the child, she committed suicide, exactly one month before her twenty-seventh birthday.

Sadly, Kaneko and her work were nearly forgotten for the next fifty years. But a fellow poet, Setsuo Yazaki, recovered her poetry manuscripts in the 1980s and finally published them in their entirety, most of the poems appearing for the first time in print. Since then, her poems have numbered among Japan’s most beloved children’s poems, and appeared in songs and children’s elementary school textbooks. Her life story has inspired multiple television dramas.

However, it was one poem’s broadcast in a public service announcement after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that solidified her reputation as one of Japan’s most beloved children’s writers.

So what is Misuzu Kaneko’s real “story”? Is it her poetry alone? Should it include her not-so-kid-friendly biography, if the goal is to make her work accessible to kids? And do we bring in the story of the loss and rediscovery of her poetry, and of the impact of her poetry after the tsunami?

While putting together the book, we debated over whether to abandon one of these threads or another. Some contested the claim that the broadcast of her poem after the tsunami had a real impact in Japan. I also heard from an experienced book reviewer that we might consider dropping the frame of the rediscovery of her work, as it might not interest kids. In the end, however, we decided that all these threads were important and that we could not tell her story without them.

And so the book has come together after much intense but fruitful collaboration. With the involvement of co-translators Sally Ito in Canada and Michiko Tsuboi in Japan, illustrator Toshikado Hajiri in Japan and me in the United States, Are You an Echo? is the product of a truly transcultural effort to introduce Misuzu Kaneko to English readers.