Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Self-Publishing a Self-Initiated Translation
A professional non-fiction translator for over 40 years, Fred Uleman this September self-published Rethinking the Constitution: An Anthology of Japanese Opinion, a translation of Kodansha’s 2004 Nihon no kenpo: Kokumin shuken no ronten. SWET asked Uleman how he came to translate and publish a book he was not paid to do, and what it involved.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Academic Editing in the Humanities
A senior scholar in the field of history (premodern Japan), professor at Sophia University in the Faculty of Liberal Arts, and editor of Monumenta Nipponica since 1997, Kate Wildman Nakai has worked assiduously to improve the quality of the academic writing and scholarship that flows over her desk. In an event co-organized by Monumenta Nipponica and SWET, Nakai shared some of her extensive experience with the writing and editorial issues involved in preparing academic articles in the humanities for publication and answered questions from the audience. This article was prepared from a transcription of the talk.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Kurodahan: Selling to a Niche
Ginny Tapley interviews Edward Lipsett, Kyushu-based translator and editor who has spearheaded the founding and development of Kurodahan Press, specializing in genre fiction translated from Japanese. This article brings SWET Newsletter readers up to date on this ambitious project.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Young Adult Fantasy in Translation
SWET member Cathy Hirano is a Japanese-English translator living in Shikoku. Her translation of the young adult (YA) novel The Friends by Kazumi Yumoto (Natsu no niwa; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1996) won the Mildred L. Batchelder Award for children’s literature in translation and the Boston Globe–Horn Book award for children’s fiction (both in 1997). Misa Dikengil interviewed Hirano via email about two recent YA publications: a translation of Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi (Seirei no moribito; Scholastic, 2008) and a revised reissue of her 1993 translation of Dragon Sword and Wind Child by Noriko Ogiwara (Sorairo magatama; VIZ Media, 2007). Shortly after the interview, Hirano’s translation of Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit received the 2009 Mildred L. Batchelder Award for Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Japan Image Use Conference
SWET and Other Events
Japan Image Use Conference
By Lynne E. Riggs
On June 23, 2008, the North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources held a symposium in Tokyo (International House of Japan) entitled “Japanese Images: Using Them to Support Japan Studies Internationally.” Bringing together librarians, publishers, museum staff, editors, Japanese studies professors, and other interested parties, it was a landmark event in developing good practices for image use relating to Japan. Lynne E. Riggs is the managing editor of Monumenta Nipponica, the now semi-annual journal of Japanese studies.