11 Sep
By Avery Fischer Udagawa, Bangkok
To ring in World Kid Lit Month 2017, SCBWI: The Blog has an interview in which Helen Wang, a master Chinese-to-English kidlit translator, interviews Cathy Hirano, a master Japanese-to-English kidlit translator. The interview features Hirano’s latest publication, a translation of the chapter book Yours Sincerely, Giraffe by Megumi Iwasa, illustrated by Jun Takabatake. Enjoy!
7 Oct
Grave of the Fireflies by Akiyuki Nosaka, to be discussed in workshop by Ginny Tapley Takemori at SCBWI Japan Translation Day 2016
The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators presents
A day of presentations, critiques, and conversation for published and pre-published translators of Japanese children’s/YA literature into English, including prose literature and manga.
Date: Saturday, October 22, 2016
Time: Registration 8:30 a.m. Sessions 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Place: Yokohama International School, Yokohama, 2F Pauli Bldg
Fee: Advance registration 3,500 yen for current SCBWI or SWET members; 5,000 yen for nonmembers. At the door 4,500 yen for current SCBWI or SWET members; 6,000 yen for nonmembers.
Advance registrations and translations of texts for workshop with Ginny Tapley Takemori (see below) due by Friday, October 7, 2016.
Registration: To reserve your place and request workshop texts, send an e-mail to japan (at) scbwi.org
This event will be in English, with one session in Japanese.
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SCBWI Japan Translation Day 2016 Schedule
8:30 Registration | 8:50 Opening Remarks
9:00-9:30 Julia Marshall: How to Publish “Curiously Good Books From Around the World”
The founder of Gecko Press and a translator in her own right, Julia Marshall publishes world literature for children in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the US. Marshall describes how Gecko Press works and its recent Japan titles, such as Yours Sincerely, Giraffe by Megumi Iwasa, translated by Cathy Hirano. (Pre-recorded Skype interview.)
9:30-10:00 Avery Fischer Udagawa: SWET, SCBWI, Submission Opportunities and Speed Share
As SCBWI International Translator Coordinator and Japan Translator Coordinator, and a longtime SWETer, Avery Fischer Udagawa shares about SCBWI and SWET and leads participants in a “speed share” of their current projects. She also shares about submission opportunities for participants in Translation Day, from interested publishers.
10:00-10:45 Zack Davisson: Convergence and Divergence in Prose and Manga Translation
As translator of The Secret Biwa Music that Caused the Yurei to Lament by Isseki Sanjin and the two manga seriesand Showa: A History of Japan by Shigeru Mizuki, Zack Davisson discusses his craft and engages in a mini-joust with Batchelder Award-winning translator Alexander O. Smith. (Via Skype.)
11:00-12:00 Ginny Tapley Takemori: Historical Fiction for Middle Grade and Young Adult Readers
As translator of The Whale That Fell in Love with a Submarine by Akiyuki Nosaka and The Secret of the Blue Glass by Tomiko Inui, Ginny Tapley Takemori has delved into Japanese narratives of World War II and delivered them movingly to young English-language readers of the 21st-century. She shares gleanings from her journey.
Lunch—Bring a lunch, and “talk shop” with fellow translators in the event room or nearby Minato-no-Mieru Oka Park.
1:30-2:15 Yumiko Sakuma: Japanese Children’s and YA Publishing, Present and Future
As a critic, editor, professor and translator of more than 200 books for the Japanese children’s market, Yumiko Sakuma knows the industry inside-out. Here she gives an overview of Japanese children’s/YA publishing since World War II, a look at recent trends, and information on how to scout out promising new titles. (In Japanese.)
2:30-4:00 Ginny Tapley Takemori: Translation Workshop
Ginny Tapley Takemori critiques participants’ translations of selected excerpts from literature for young adults. The excerpts will include text from Grave of the Fireflies by Akiyuki Nosaka.
Translation Day participants must submit their translations of the selected text for this workshop by October 7, 2016. To request the text and register for Translation Day, send an e-mail to japan (at) scbwi.org
4:00-4:30 Discussion/Q & A and Closing Comments
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SCBWI Japan Translation Day 2016 Speakers
Ginny Tapley Takemori is a British translator based in rural Ibaraki Prefecture, 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. She has translated the middle grade historical novel The Secret of the Blue Glass by Tomiko Inui, and the young adult short story collection The Whale That Fell In Love With a Submarine by Akiyuki Nosaka. She has another children’s project in the works. Her book translations for adults include The Isle of South Kamui and Other Stories by Kyotaro Nishimura and Puppet Master by Miyuki Miyabe, as well as From the Fatherland, With Love by Ryu Murakami, co-translated with Ralph McCarthy and Charles De Wolf. Her fiction translations have appeared in Granta, Words Without Borders, and a number of anthologies. She has also translated non-fiction books about Japanese art, theater, and history, and worked as an editor of translated fiction, nonfiction, and illustrated books at Kodansha International. Earlier on, she worked in Spain as a foreign rights literary agent and freelance translator from Spanish and Catalan. She describes some of her children’s/YA work here: https://ihatov.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/an-interview-with-ginny-tapley-takemori
Zack Davisson grew up in Spokane, Washington, and did freelance writing for a JET newsletter and expat magazines in Japan, before earning his MA in Advanced Japanese Studies from The University of Sheffield. He rewrote his thesis as the book Yurei: The Japanese Ghost, and subsequently translated a novella from classical Japanese: The Secret Biwa Music that Caused the Yurei to Lament by Isseki Sanjin. He has since translated the landmark manga series Showa: A History of Japan by Shigeru Mizuki and is at work on a seven-volume series of Mizuki’s classic yokai comic Kitaro. The Birth of Kitaro, published in May 2016, and Kitaro Meets Nurarihyon, forthcoming in October 2016, are the first volumes in this collection. Davisson has collaborated with Mark Morse on an original comic, Narrow Road, and has written a much-commented-upon translation essay: www.tcj.com/confessions-of-a-manga-translator. He describes his career path and publications here: https://ihatov.wordpress.com/2016/02/28/an-interview-with-translator-zack-davisson
Yumiko Sakuma was born in Tokyo and worked as an interpreter and in-house editor before becoming a freelance editor, translator, critic, and professor of Japanese children’s literature. She has translated more than 200 children’s books into Japanese, and her work has garnered many awards, including the Sankei Juvenile Literature Publishing Culture Award. She also researches African literature and runs a project promoting African children’s books in Japan. Her blog and website provide valuable information about Japanese children’s titles: http://baobab.way-nifty.com/blog/ and http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/baobab-star/. Her essay “What Exactly Is Translation?” is available in an English translation by Deborah Iwabuchi: www.swet.jp/articles/article/pianyan_little_keys_and_yumiko_sakuma_2/_C30
Julia Marshall grew up on a farm in Marton, New Zealand, and worked in Sweden for 12 years at a Swedish publisher of multi-language company magazines and web communications. She then returned to New Zealand (Wellington) to set up Gecko Press in 2004. Gecko Press “translates and publishes award-winning, curiously good children’s books from around the world [specializing] in English versions of award-winning children’s books by internationally well-established authors and illustrators.” Titles from Japan include The Bear and the Wildcat by Kazumi Yumoto, illustrated by Komako Sakai; Hannah’s Night by Komako Sakai; and Yours Sincerely, Giraffe by Megumi Iwasa, illustrated by Jun Takabatake; all translated by Cathy Hirano. www.geckopress.co.nz
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 serves as SCBWI International Translator Coordinator and SCBWI Japan Translator Coordinator. www.averyfischerudagawa.com
30 Jun
By Avery Fischer Udagawa, Bangkok
Last month I thoroughly enjoyed Asian Festival of Children’s Content 2016, where Japan was the Country of Focus. While physically present in Singapore’s National Library Building, I spent three days immersed in presentations about Japan. This post contains slides from several.
Early on I spoke about 31 Japanese children’s books available in English translation—from folktales to fantasy, and from picture books to edgy YA. Click for the full slideshow (an 18 MB download).
Or here is a PDF list of Japanese children’s books in English translation, recommended for the AFCC 2016 Festival Bookstore (118 KB). We passed many of these around in my session thanks to a generous loan from Denise Tan of Closetful of Books. Thank you, Denise!
One of the leading translators of Japanese children’s books into English is the amazing Cathy Hirano. Her AFCC 2016 talk “On Translation” featured this humorous slide, which is a literal translation of a page from a Japanese picture book.
To read how Cathy handled this text in her final draft, watch for Yours Sincerely, Giraffe by Megumi Iwasa, illustrated by Jun Takabatake, due out in August 2016 from Gecko Press.
A picture book you might already have seen from Japan is this one, published by Kaisei-sha.
The Tiny King appeared in a presentation by editor Akiko Beppu, who spoke of how some illustrators in Japan—including Taro Miura—are making picture books with striking two-page spreads, and working in a style with international appeal.
Yumiko Sakuma, a translator and critic, spoke of Japanese middle grade and YA novels about afterschool activities (bukatsu)—some of which are unusual, such as archery and metalworking. This slide of hers shows two novels by Mito Mahara, published by Kodansha.
Ms. Sakuma presented the history of Japanese children’s literature since World War II as well as recent trends and needs. Her figures showed Japan is publishing as many as 5,000 new children’s titles per year; 4,381 in 2015, of which 16.1 percent were translations from abroad (in the U.S., this figure is around 2 percent).
Miki Yakamoto, a manga artist and assistant professor at Tsukuba University, gave a thorough overview of manga in Japan, explaining that for years major works have begun as serials in manga magazines. This was the case with her own work Sunny Sunny Ann! in the magazine Morning:
Ms. Yakamoto pointed out that manga is evolving due to new technology, but right now manga magazines and books make up just under 40 percent of all printed matter published in Japan.
One of my favorite sessions of the conference was Kazuo Iwamura’s; I learned that his Family of Fourteen books, featuring a family of mice in a forest, ring true because Iwamura himself grew up in woods. “The woods were my playground,” he told us.
The above set is translated into English by Arthur Binard, published by Doshinsha.
How much children’s literature from Japan and Asia is represented in the English-reading world? I spoke about this in my other solo presentation, “Understanding the Business of Translation.” Click to download (4 MB).
My thanks to those who gave permission to use slides above. Any errors herein are mine alone. Much gratitude to the National Book Development Council of Singapore, to Asian Festival of Children’s Content, and to this year’s Japan: Country of Focus team. Kanpai, AFCC!
SCBWI Japan Translation Group 