For many years, Japanese literature has been respected by enthusiastic readers globally, providing joy and invoking a curiosity about a world they have never stepped into. This passion has recently extended to many newly released contemporary novels, with proof evident in the “Convenience Store Woman” becoming a worldwide phenomenon. Arguably, it is the heyday of contemporary Japanese authors of high calibre.

However, the efforts, influence, as well as the responsibility of literary translators should not be overlooked. Foreign readers are in effect reading the text and seeing the world that is recreated by them. Quite simply translators are authors by proxy.

What approach does a good translator take when reading the original text in order to convey the original ideas into another language?

Inviting three experienced translators of Japanese literature, Prof. Stephen Dodd, Polly Barton and Ginny Tapley Takemori, this talk aims to reveal the daily practices of translation behind the scenes and to discuss how these professionals overcome not only the difference in language but also in culture, in order to make the work as true to the original as possible while ensuring it is entertaining for an English audience.

Prof Stephen Dodd (Moderator)

Stephen Dodd is Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at SOAS, University of London. He has written widely on modern Japanese literature. He is author of Writing Home: Representations of the Native Place in Modern Japanese Literature (Harvard University Asia Center, 2004), and The Youth of Things: Life and Death in the Age of Kajii Motojirō (Hawai’i University Press, 2014.). His translation of Mishima Yukio’s Life for Sale (Inochi urimasu, 1968) was published through Penguin in 2019, and he is now translating Mishima’s sci-fi novel, Beautiful Star (Utsukushii hoshi, 1962).

Polly Barton

Polly Barton is a translator of Japanese literature and non-fiction, based in the UK. Recent translations include Spring Garden by Tomoka Shibasaki (Pushkin Press) and Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda (Tilted Axis/Soft Skull Press). Her translation of Kikuko Tsumura's There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job is upcoming from Bloomsbury. After being awarded the 2019 Fitzcarraldo Editions Essay Prize, she is currently working on a non-fiction book entitled Fifty Sounds.

Ginny Tapley Takemori

Ginny Tapley Takemori is a Japan-based literary translator who has translated over a dozen Japanese authors, from Meiji greats Izumi Kyoka and Koda Rohan to contemporary bestsellers Ryu Murakami, Miyabe Miyuki, Akiyuki Nosaka, and Kyoko Nakajima. Her translation of Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman was selected Book of the Year by Foyles book shop and numerous publications including The New Yorker. Her translation of Murata’s Earthlings will be published this autumn, while Things Remembered and Things Forgotten, by Kyoko Nakajima, co-translated with Ian MacDonald, is forthcoming in Spring 2021.

Please note that this online event will be hosted on Zoom.