What is the last children's or teen book you read in translation? The Rainbow Fish, perhaps? Pippi Longstocking? Inkheart? Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit?
Watermark Books & Cafe is pleased to welcome Avery Fischer Udagawa, translator from Japanese of the middle grade novel J-Boys: Kazuo's World, Tokyo, 1965, and the YA story "House of Trust" for Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction--An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories.
J-Boys is a novel in linked stories about a fourth-grader growing up in Tokyo after the 1964 Olympics. Obsessed with hamburgers, U.S. sprinter Bob Hayes, and Leave It to Beaver, Kazuo also observes the lingering effects of World War II on his changing world.
Tomo is an anthology of young adult short fiction in prose, verse and graphic art set in or related to Japan. All proceeds from sales of Tomo go to support long-term relief efforts for teen survivors of the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.
At the event, Udagawa will read excerpts, present images and video, and discuss her role as translator, engaging the audience in discussion of both the featured texts and the process of translation.
Based in Asia, she has presented at The American School in Japan, Yokohama International School, and International School Bangkok, as well as for the Asian Festival of Children's Content in Singapore and the Tokyo chapter of SCBWI.
