Browsing, and the recently published The Passengers on the Hankyu Line by Hiro Arikawa piqued my interest, for various reasons. Among them is the fact that although Arikawa is identified (and continues to self-identify) as a “light novelist”, she appears to be a serious and prolific writer. The so-called “light novel” also attracted my attention in the past.
Arikawa has written about the Japan Self-Defence Forces and the fictional “Library Forces”, and perhaps more widely known, cats. It is one of those occasions where I wish I could read Japanese.
In the case of this recently published novel, the English translator Allison Markin Powell is truly famous. Found the 2023 Manifesto on Literary Translation from PEN America, which Powell helped draft. While it focuses on the U.S., the manifesto makes clear many of the thoughts I have had myself as a translator in Australia. Very grateful for this find. (https://pen.org/report/translation-manifesto/)
(Day 13 #WarmWinterRead #WWR25 via @librarieschangelives)
Voices under the Sun 陽光下的聲音 